Someone Stole My Content! A Blogger’s Guide to Copyright Laws for E-Materials

by Keianna Rae Harrison for Mompreneur Ink

DISCLAIMER: I’m a professional writer and an adjunct communications instructor. I take copyright and plagiarism very seriously. I believe wholeheartedly in intellectual property and I support people’s right to own their words and ideas — to an extent…

–INSERT RECORD SCRATCH SOUND HERE–

Yeah, I said to an extent.

Here’s why:

For months I’ve been reading complaints from bloggers on Facebook about other bloggers “stealing” their blog posts or parts of their posts and using them for their own blogs without permission, a backlink or correct attribution.

Most of the stories read something like: “Can you believe she used my ENTIRE post and didn’t link it back to me? She only gave me written credit for writing it within her post! How DARE her?”

Or:

“What should I say to Mike The Blogger who took my words, tweaked them a bit, and posted something uncomfortably similar to my blog post on his blog as his own work?”

I’ve refrained from offering perspective because I feel torn. I believe people are generally good natured and honest. And I tend to think bloggers who borrow content do so with good intention to share an expert source, but they get confused about or overlook the rules of sharing e-content.

While most people think the guidelines for e-content are the same as they are for hard copy materials, they aren’t. In fact, most of the guidelines are very new because of the quick rise of citizen journalism.

What is Citizen Journalism?

We now live in a society where anybody can write anything and publish it on the Internet at their will.

These “citizen journalists” may or may not have formal journalism training and therefore there are inclined to make the rules as they go.

The process of typing up an opinion about anything and posting it to the Internet as gospel is easy, fast and ever changing.

It’s happening so fast lawmakers can’t keep up with interpreting what’s fair for copyright of e-content, nor have they been able to appropriately manage and mandate content sharing in a way that is pleasing to everyone.

My position? Neutral. Until it happened to me…

So I’m riding the fence while reading these other people’s posts and then one afternoon while researching content for Mompreneurink.com, I came across a site with the exact same business model and words as on mine. I was shocked, to say the least.

So I get what it feels like to be poached. Disgusting, right?

And then I found myself on the other side of the witness stand — I was the so-called poacher. Or at least I almost did…

The drama ensues

Recently I purchased a “How To” e-guide and I absolutely LOVED it. The content was practical, timely, relevant and the methods presented were super easy to follow.

The very first thing I wanted to do after reading it was share it with the members of my online community at Mompreneurink.com.

I immediately wrote up a blog post that included a synopsis of the e-book including where my readers could get it and the price, $49.95. OUCH!

I purposely did NOT include my affiliate links because I knew wanted to share some of the contents with my people for free.

And honestly, I thought asking my members to shell out $50 might cause a hardship and create a stumbling block in their process. My community is mostly moms with home-based or small businesses and two or more children.

Anyway, I finished the blog post with the parts I wanted to share in it and right before I clicked post in WordPress, my gut said, “Wait, KR… Is this a copyright violation?”

Well intended, I took to my Facebook professional women’s groups to seek feedback.

An unexpected “Scarlet Letter” on my chest

I posted the very same question in three different groups: “Friends and colleagues, I have a question for you. Sorry if there’s an obvious answer I’m overlooking, but here goes: If I purchase a book — let’s say I purchase a “How to” guide, can I give it or sections of it away to my members on my website for FREE?”

In one group composed of a mix of bloggers from around the country, the response was overwhelming … and kinda mean.

Their feedback came fast and furious — a resounding “No! You cannot do that…” The responders were clearly passionate about this topic.

They started citing law jargon and making threats of legal action.

They talked about how rude and disrespectful it would be to share the content and one lady said I was stealing from the author.

Jeez… Did I mention I paid $50 for this E-book?

Ironically, the response in another professional group was ALTOGETHER different.

This group is made up of women business owners — only a few bloggers/writers. They’re mostly small, home-based Mompreneurs.

Their responses were more in line with “Yes, you can share portions of the book with proper attribution.”

Only four people responded from the third group, which has about the same make-up as the second one. Their responses were 50/50. Half said yes, the others said they weren’t sure, but didn’t think so.

The variation in responses concerned me, so I took to Google to get some expert opinion.

Expert, schmex-pert. Bah Google!

As I suspected, I was able to find all sorts of positions for the topic on Google.

There was an undated article from LegalZoom stating that copyright laws applied to e-content just like any other materials.

I also found a Pearson article, which split hairs and gave arguments for both sides.

And then I came across this website (insert angelic melody): http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/intellectual-property.

According to the About page on the site, the Digital Media Law Project “is a project of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, a research center founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development.”

Personally, I found that this site offered the clearest explanations about everything from intellectual property and copyright to fair use of other’s digital materials.

Get it right! Learn the guidelines for how to properly share someone else’s e-content. Image credit: Dollar Photo Club

Here’s a link to what it said about using other people’s e-content — http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/using-work-others

If you read the content on the link, you’re probably like, “wait. What?”

Yeah, I was confused, too.

The principle of fair use basically says you can share other people’s work as long as it’s in a way that fosters further learning or creates new work.

Here’s more specific language:

Section 107 of the Copyright Act defines fair use as follows:

The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include –

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
The nature of the copyrighted work;
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
And the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

See? This is why I said I support people’s right to own their words and ideas — to an extent.

The citizen journalist in me says I’m uber flattered that you think my content is so freakin’ awesome you want to share it. Heck yeah! Share away! What’s the big effin’ deal? Share it and send me a link!

But the professional blogger in me says, “Ah hell no! WHAT ABOUT GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND MY SEO?!?! No. Way. Don’t copy my ‘ish!”

TORN. I am. Indeed.

Fair Use law says I can share that “How To” e-book in the manner I had intended… But karma promises to pay me an unwanted visit if I do.

So you’ve read the law… Here’s my take on the etiquette (because the world doesn’t need another asshole acting on principle alone and karma really is a bitch)

At a minimum, you should:

Write your post with the content you want to share in it.Find the author’s contact information. Share your pre-written post and ask permission to use their content in the manner you presented.LINK BACK. If the author has a website or a blog, add a quick author bio and a link back to their site.Share where to buy the original content. And yes, if you’re an affiliate, I think it’s OK to use your affiliate link.

And what do you do if the author says no to your request?

Share the entire piece via a one or two sentence preview within your post and then link to it with an app like snip.ly where you can create a custom message and include your brand with each link.Pull out the most important paragraph of what you want to share and quote it. After the quote, include the author’s name and company and a link back to their website. You can also include their social media to show goodwill.

So what did I do with my “How-To” guide?

I edited the blog post a bit to include the fact that sharing beyond our circle or intending to profit off the material I shared for free is bad and I asked my members not to do that.

Then I sent the post to the author with a polite note that went something like, “Loved your guide! Want to share it with a small audience of mom business owners. Here’s the post I plan to send them. Would you mind?”