The web makes it easy for unscrupulous people to steal your content on the web its true but this same easy of access makes it easy to find people who do this. Take what happened today.
This morning I got a call from someone I’d never heard of. It turns out they had paid someone to write some marketing copy for them. When it was delivered they liked it so much they took notice. They noticed it was written in a different style and became curious. They’re curiosity inspired them to “Google” some of the copy.
What did they find? They found that the copy that they had just paid someone else to write had been stolen verbatim from this site and their copywriter and substituted her name. Being honest clients, they called me to let me know this “marketing communications” firm not only was selling my copy as their own, they were using it as their own on their web site.
A couple of emails and a phone call later and the president of the guilty firm, apologized, removed the stolen copy and promised to cease and desist from using my work illegally.
It’s true it may be easy to steal marketing copy on the web, but it’s just as easy to find the thieves. Of course its simpler to just ask for permission, provide attribution or hire a good copywriter to start with.
– Charlie Cook
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