Copywriting and re-printing info on websites

[Kylemp]

Im in the middle of launching a web travel website and keep runnng into the problems of content.
Since I have over 300 cities in this area, each with many different attractions, activities, etc. surrounding them, it is nearly impossible to plan on writing them myself, and at the same time too expensive to piece out the work to others..
I'm wondering if anyone knows the specifics on web copywriting, specifically if I can copy information and just give credit to the authors at the end of the pages, of if I will need to contact each source individually and get thier permission. Same goes with images.
Anyone??

Kyle

[Jeff Colburn]

Hi,

Yes, all of the articles and pictures / graphics are copywritten. You will need to contact the creator and get their permission unless otherwise stated on the website where you find this material. Using this information without permission could result in your hosting service removing your site from the server.

Take a look at my article "Where To Find Free Pictures, Artwork And Animation For Your Website" here http://www.creativecauldron.com/websitearticleFreeGraphics.shtml

Also, go to free article sites. Here are some to start with.

http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://goarticles.com/
http://www.AuthorConnection.com/
http://www.webpronews.com/submit.html
http://www.e-zinez.com/articles/add_url.htm
http://www.netterweb.com/articles/
http://www.articlecity.com/
http://www.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.freearticlehq.com/
http://www.articlesfactory.com/
http://www.web-source.net/articles/
http://www.e-zinez.com/
http://www.marketing-seek.com/
http://www.infobot.net/
http://www.mega-success.com/
http://www.ientry.com/devnewz/html.html
http://www.searchnewz.com/signup/html.html
http://www.smallbusinessnewz.com/html.html
http://www.flashnewz.com/html.html
http://www.promotenewz.com/html.html
http://www.thevines.com/leaf/AA1/&xp=AA90
http://readers.thevines.com/leaf/AA0000361277/2
http://www.suite101.com/
http://www.bella-online.com/career/professions/writing/articles/art964 225682166.htm
http://EzineArticles.com/
http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm
http://www.authorlink.com/
http://www.writtenbyme.com/qas.php#Q1
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content/
http://www.ezinearticles.com/add_url.html
http://www.internetclinic.org/contact/sub-article.htm
http://makingprofit.com/mp/articles/submit.shtml
http://www.articlecentral.com/
http://fictionaddiction.net/
http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml
http://www.smarteremarketing.com/
http://www.coachmaria.com/articles/articlebanks.html

Have Fun,
Jeff

[marcel]

I would recommend you buy articles. There are plenty of article writers on DP and getafreelancer.com

[Irishjim]

As a reporter, I can tell you with good understanding that all written material is automatically copyrighted as soon as it is published.

However you have a greater danger than the potentially angry writer or publisher.... Google.

The new algorithm, Big Daddy, is on the lookout for scraper sites.

I found out this the hard way when one of my pages, www.tourclare.com/lahinch.html went from a #1 listing on Google to oblivion.

I had listed copy from sites I had linked to on the page and Google obviously saw it as an infraction. I removed or changed the copy and regained my #1 listing.

It is an important lesson to learn.

[nottheusual1]

Copywriting is the act of creating/writing copy - whether ad copy or content.

Copyrights are the legal rights granted to owners of content for exclusive publication of that content.

Many of the sites with primo content have people looking for violations of their copyrights and do not hesitate to pursue matters in both criminal and civil courts. It is not difficult to find/catch these types of issues, either.

Widely available content (be it free or used with permission) tends to be widely used, creating many sites with content so similar they have poor ability to differentiate themselves - they are part of the noise.

Content is king. Original content requires work - either by you or somebody else for $$. If it was as easy as crediting the copyright owner, more would than wouldn't already be doing it.

[THEGHOSTPAINTER]

When ever I post a picture or a map or radar image I always contact the owners to get ther permission or subscribe to there product as in the case of Intellicast and AccuWeather.

When ever I post an article or picture I post the link to the arthor or website.

When ever I post any material I always give full credit to the poster, or creator.

I also have on my page 'All Rights Reserved' this covers a lot of ground on material I use.

And when ever I use a software application such as one of my RSS feed generators I have there link and image posted on the either the feed or the page.

I hope this helps.

[DesignComm]

Hi Kylemp,

If you go to copyright.gov and copyright.com, y ou can get more info.

The bottom line is this: When someone turns their ideas into a physical embodyment, or tangible representation, they are automatically protected by copyright law. If you use their work without permission, you are committing copyright infringement and subjecting yourself to lawsuits, and possibly jail time.

What you need to do, is to contact the authors individually, and get permission from them, preferably in writing. Sometimes authors will let you use stuff for free; sometimes not at all; somtimes for a fee, but you have to ask. If you don't, you're stealing!

Hope this helps!

[budneyc]

Advice Please...I have an e-commerce site and it is constantly being copied by a new competitor. The complete copy of some pages have been copied (They have even been sloppy and left my fax number), articles have been copied, pictures I have created, and now I have noticed he is adding new products and completely copying my product descriptions word for word.

Has anyone else had experience with this and what advice can you give. I contacted my competitor and he blamed everything on his designer. He has since taken off a couple of blatant infractions, but everyday I notice more infractions....I think my phone call upset him and he is now copying more than ever.

Thanks in advance,
Clayton
www.hottubessentials.com

[mysticalmaze]

Hi,

My Opinion:

Its always best to contact the author and get his/her
permission, and save this document, as there is
no guarantee that they were the original writers.

The city, hotel, attraction, whatever they write about in many cases isn't actually owned by them, so its easy to re-write the info in your own words.

Whether you contact them, have it written, or copy
content that has permission given, will take alot of
time and effort.

Good luck with your new site!

[LSeeber]

budneyc,

I had the same thing happen...website posted an entire ebook that I sell. I contacted the website owner and when nothing happened, I did a whois and found their host and contacted them. They immediately jumped on it and the content was taken down.

[budneyc]

Thanks Lseeber,

I did contact the owner. He blamed his designer, then lectured me a little saying that I shouldn't be upset and had taken the wrong approach. However, I don't see how a designer, who is not familiar with the industry, would be doing this without his knowledge. He did take off a few blatant copies of illustrations I created, but new products he has added since have my exact description (word for word) and other articles are still on his site.

Does anyone know a good lawyer with experience in this area?

Thanks,

Clayton
www.hottubessentials.com

[budneyc]

OOps Lseeber,
I just noticed your advice was to contact the website host (not the owner). Good idea - hopefully the host is not also the designer. Any other advice from anyone would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Clayton
www.hottubessentials.com

[Keimos]

Hi Kyle,

Simple answer is yes. Get permission.

But, ride with it as the only people that will complain are the ones that you misrepresent. You are in fact just reprinting there stuff, advertising for them, so give an acknowledgement and let them approach you if they are upset.

The alternative is to rewrite the copy in your own words.

It alls comes down to who you upset and be ready to withdraw any articles that are disputed.

Keimos

[RFA]

I work with a hosting company which has recently sent to all clients a note reminding them of copywriting.... and that they would pull the plug on any websites not following copyrights rules.... good initiative....

certainly one of the best way to go.....

regards,

[patriceroy]

There is a couple of things you can do when your content has been copied.

1) Contact the person that copied your content and inform them of the copyright infraction. Usualy, they will retract within 24 hours.

2) If not. You can contact their Web provider to inform them of the situation. Some may remove the site because it violates the rules for providing the service. You usualy have the send a formal letter to the provider so that take you seriously. It takes some time.

3) You can send a e-mail to the person informing them that this is their second and last chance to remove the content before actions be taken against them. Be precise at what you want to be removed. If it's a company, take their name and address.

4) If the content hasn't been removed yet. Send them a formal letter informing them of the infraction. You have to be very precise at what as to be removed. Some companies send out thei Web design and may not be aware of the situation.

5) If they don't reply, contact a lawyer that specialise in intellectual property (IP) rights. Bring all the content that you have. It's not cheap. You usualy have to open a case file with them and where talking 1-2K$ easy.

At first, they send a reccomended letter, with a lawyer letterhed. The courts is the next step if they still don't react.

That's where I'm right now. After having my content copied many times as Web pages and on CD from many people, I caught one reselling my content ! Court date is next month.

It's a big assle and takes a lot of time in the worst case scenario. But you have to protect your content and your rights.

[hipmonkey]

I have a blog where I copy and paste 'cyber news clippings' about a certain music group. I say at the top what I'm doing, and in each article I have a link to the article and say it's copywrited by them. This is stated all over my blog and there can be no mistake about what I'm doing. It is merely a collection of daily news stories. It's quite popular, yet I haven't had a complaint about copywrite ingringment in the 2 years I've been doing it. Is there an exception for news or have I hust been lucky so far?

[digitallabz]

I would recommend to get user content on site. Like travelogues.

Professional web templates (http://www.professionalwebtemplate.net/) | Professional powerpoint Presentation templates (http://www.professionalwebtemplate.net/powerpoint.html)

[kapur]

Apart from all this can we take some strong action so that it will make adverse effect to the ranking of the site who has copied content? Like I have seen a website which has copied all our content and even they have forgotten to remove our name from the content.

I have heard that if we write to google and if they found them on wrong foot they can forbid them.

Can any one tell me what the best way to do it? That site still has our name in content.

[sdrury]

It is essentially good practise to acknowlede any creative owner of an image.

I have found the Copyscape quite a good service to use, they monitor sites for plagarisation (this is not an affiliate link either) see: http://www.copyscape.com

All the best with your business site!

Steve.

[businessdata]

Nuff said on copying text. You need to get owners permission in advance or completely rewrite.

Re images, whatever you do do not copy images from the web and re-use. If an image was originally sourced from an image agency say Getty Images, these are usually on an exclusive deal with the agency. I.e. you are liable to get a whopping great invoice from the agency if they find one of their images on your site. They have people in their legal departments scouring the net for this type of infrigement. And believe me they make alot of money from it. We are talking up to $3000 per image, so if you want to take that risk..

[mawells]

Kylemp, I can empathize with you about getting content for over 300 cities, but here's an idea... why not run a "contest" on your site asking for submissions about various cities from others. The winners articles will be published at your web site.

Just an idea... (you'll want to include in your rules that the content must be original and that by submitting the article, the writer is transferring the copyright to you.)

[arpecop]

http://www.world66.com - creative commons licensed content

[anne2010]

I'd like to thank Jeff Colburn for taking the type to place all the links to the sites he offered for free information. I've already found several good ideas for my website - so you've helped more than the original poster with the problem! Thanks Jeff!

[incrediblehelp]

How about you try a let your uses interact with the website some how? Maybe Wikipedia style and let users add their own reviews and suggestion for travel destinations?

I would not recommend putting the time into building a travel website with regurgitated info from another websites. If you want to have great rankings and set yourself apart from the 1000s of other travel websites similar to the one you want to build, think out of the box and make sure your original or just don't do it at all.

[Kylemp]

How about you try a let your uses interact with the website some how? Maybe Wikipedia style and let users add their own reviews and suggestion for travel destinations?

I would not recommend putting the time into building a travel website with regurgitated info from another websites. If you want to have great rankings and set yourself apart from the 1000s of other travel websites similar to the one you want to build, think out of the box and make sure your original or just don't do it at all.

I have thought about this, but for the launch I want a abundance of information. In truth, all travel websites are garbage becasue of lack of information.. I know this because I do advertising for another business in the accommodation field.
The idea behind mine is to have the most information, and I have looked at the options of letting people either write reviews of thier own or having a contest

I have a blog where I copy and paste 'cyber news clippings' about a certain music group. I say at the top what I'm doing, and in each article I have a link to the article and say it's copywrited by them. This is stated all over my blog and there can be no mistake about what I'm doing. It is merely a collection of daily news stories. It's quite popular, yet I haven't had a complaint about copywrite ingringment in the 2 years I've been doing it. Is there an exception for news or have I hust been lucky so far?

This is really kind of the idea I had, because it wasnt really plagiarizing.. well, it was and wasnt.
Im not looking to take credit by any means, the point is to offer relative content, something that is becoming rarer and rarer on the internet these days.. sadly enough.
In the end the content will be turned over and new artiles written but to write articles for 300+ cities and then say averag 12-20 articles PER city, its just too much to handle.. and too expensive to piece out.

Personally, I dont think that this falls under theft so much because I am more than willing to give credit.. but I dont make the laws and cannot afford to go to court to defend my little idea.

On the topic of getting users to post information, a great idea.
My problem is in moderating these posts, which could get out of hand fast.
Maybe im setting the bar too high, but I wanted to have lotsa articles for the launch of the website, therefore giving people a reason to come and look at it, and at the same time giving businesses a reson to advertise.

Thanks for your posts, deinatley good to think about everything that has been written

Kyle

[Kylemp]

How about you try a let your uses interact with the website some how? Maybe Wikipedia style and let users add their own reviews and suggestion for travel destinations?

I would not recommend putting the time into building a travel website with regurgitated info from another websites. If you want to have great rankings and set yourself apart from the 1000s of other travel websites similar to the one you want to build, think out of the box and make sure your original or just don't do it at all.

I have thought about this, but for the launch I want a abundance of information. In truth, all travel websites are garbage becasue of lack of information.. I know this because I do advertising for another business in the accommodation field.
The idea behind mine is to have the most information, and I have looked at the options of letting people either write reviews of thier own or having a contest

I have a blog where I copy and paste 'cyber news clippings' about a certain music group. I say at the top what I'm doing, and in each article I have a link to the article and say it's copywrited by them. This is stated all over my blog and there can be no mistake about what I'm doing. It is merely a collection of daily news stories. It's quite popular, yet I haven't had a complaint about copywrite ingringment in the 2 years I've been doing it. Is there an exception for news or have I hust been lucky so far?

This is really kind of the idea I had, because it wasnt really plagiarizing.. well, it was and wasnt.
Im not looking to take credit by any means, the point is to offer relative content, something that is becoming rarer and rarer on the internet these days.. sadly enough.
In the end the content will be turned over and new artiles written but to write articles for 300+ cities and then say averag 12-20 articles PER city, its just too much to handle.. and too expensive to piece out.

Personally, I dont think that this falls under theft so much because I am more than willing to give credit.. but I dont make the laws and cannot afford to go to court to defend my little idea.

On the topic of getting users to post information, a great idea.
My problem is in moderating these posts, which could get out of hand fast.
Maybe im setting the bar too high, but I wanted to have lotsa articles for the launch of the website, therefore giving people a reason to come and look at it, and at the same time giving businesses a reson to advertise.

Thanks for your posts, deinatley good to think about everything that has been written

Kyle

[marcel]

What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/

Ignorance of the law is no excuse...

[marcel]

Kylemp - not suggesting you were planning to do anything illegal though.

[Atlantean]

Here is an applicable description of the Fair Use Provision of the US Copywrite law.

www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html)

I have been known to copy, verbatim, headline and all, excerpts from the major news sites and posted the material to my site, with a "Continue" link to the source of the copied material.

I read and re-read the 4 determining factors for the acceptable "fair use" of copywrited materials and I have a sinking feeling that I may have broken the rules a few times on my website (http://www.texas-explorer.com) because, though I was aware of the "fair use" provision of the law, I didn't learn it.

Marcel is right, and as my daddy used to say: "I didn't know" just doesn't cut it."

However, all is not bad in my case if the big dogs come sniffing around. After all, as you can see by looking at the main stories on my site (http://www.texas-explorer.com), I do write alot of my own content. In fact, I don't think I'll take anymore chances...I will just write my own stuff or get permission or pay for articles or simply gleen the information from other sources and write up the news in my own words. My visitors help out too.

[mstrik]

Find copywriters who need a site for themselves and make a swap-deal. You work one hour for him/her and he/she works one hour for you. This works very fine for me.