Aargh!
Book pirates steal your profits and reviews.
The type of piracy mentioned in this post refers to “the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc.” (Dictionary.com).
If you discover your book(s) on a pirate page or site, you have several ways to report and disable their activities. These tips will help.
What Does DMCA Mean?
DMCA: Digital Millennium Copyright Act
If an entity illegally duplicates and distributes your copyrighted work, you can act within the scope of the DMCA parameters and demand that the person or organization stop.
Although the DMCA is part of United States copyright law, the Act is respected around the world, and most countries will accept a DMCA Takedown Notice.
How to Find Out if Your Books Have Been Pirated
You can google your name, the name(s) of your book(s), or ask Google to help you.
Go to alerts.google.com and enter search criteria for anything you want to track. Your name? A key phrase from your last book? The name of your book? Google will e-mail you whenever new search results appear.
Once you receive an alert, you can leverage the tips in this post to help you protect your creative property.
Report DMCA Violations at Google
“Google’s content and product policies apply wherever you are in the world, but we also have processes in place to remove or restrict access to content based on local laws. This page will help you get to the right place to report content that you would like removed from Google’s services under Google’s policies or applicable laws.”
Google’s interface allows you to report DMCA violations at the following:
- Google Search
- Blogger/BlogSpot
- Google Maps and related products
- Google Play: Apps
- YouTube
- A Google Ad
- Drive (Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, etc.)
- Google Photos and Picasa Web Albums
- Shopping
- … and several other sites controlled by Google
https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905
Report DMCA Violations at Bing
“This form is solely for reporting copyright infringement in algorithmic (non-paid) links appearing in Bing, or provided by Bing via Yahoo, and Bing’s image search index (e.g., https://bing.com/images ) or video search index (e.g., https://bing.com/videos ).
“NOTE: Bing accepts submissions only from a copyright owner or a copyright owner’s authorized agent pursuant to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/infringement”
https://www.bing.com/webmaster/contentremovalform/showcontentremovalform
Report DMCA Violations at Yahoo
“Yahoo responds to effective and complete notices of intellectual property violations that provide specific information for us to identify and locate the allegedly infringing materials. In appropriate instances, we will remove allegedly infringing materials. Upon review, we may decline to remove allegedly infringing materials – for example, if we determine they are not infringing, if we lack adequate information to determine that they are infringing, if we are unable to find the accused materials, or if the materials are protected by the fair use doctrine, among other reasons.”
https://www.yahooinc.com/ipr/en-CA/forms/copyright
Limitations
DMCA reports to search engines don’t get rid of the offending pages. The engines simply remove the pages from their search results.
The following sections explain how to expand your efforts.
Report DMCA Violations at Spotify
“To notify Spotify of an infringement or other legal claim relating to content on the Spotify service, please complete the form below.
“Please note, your statements in this document may subject you to legal consequences. You may wish to consult an attorney before submitting a claim.”
https://support.spotify.com/report-content/
The Writer’s Lexicon series
and additional resources on my Facebook page.
Report DMCA Violations at SoundCloud
Note: This is not just for audio violations.
Go to the track that violates your copyright, click on the … More link below the audio feed, and select ! Report.
SoundCloud is quick to remove tracks, but not the user accounts that create the tracks.
Many SoundCloud pirates provide links to PDF and ePub files, which will require an extra step to report the document on the site that hosts the copyrighted material.
Report DMCA Violations at WordPress (Automattic)
“If you believe that material available on our sites, including those hosted at WordPress.com, infringes on your copyright(s), please notify us by submitting a copyright infringement notice. After we receive a valid and complete notice, we will investigate, remove the material, and make a good faith attempt to contact the user who uploaded the material, via email. …
“Please note that we are unable to process notices that refer to sites hosted on third-party servers that use self-hosted WordPress.org software.”
https://automattic.com/copyright-policy/
Report DMCA Violations at Issuu
“It is Issuu’s policy to promptly respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In addition, we will promptly terminate without notice the accounts of those determined by us to be “repeat infringers”. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof, and you believe that any content hosted on our web site (www.Issuu.com) infringes your copyrights, then you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by providing Issuu’s Designated Copyright Agent with the following information in writing …”
Report DMCA Violations at Rogue Websites
Here are a few WHOIS sites that can help you locate technicians who wield the authority to disable piracy sites.
When you reach the WHOIS page you choose, enter the URL of the rogue website, for example:
- 4shared.com
- easy-share.com
- esnips.com
- isbooktoday.com
- rapidshare.net
- z-lib.is
Note: You don’t need:
- the initial http://, https://, or www
- an ending slash (/)
- anything that follows a slash after the URL
It’s pointless to contact the people who run the website, unless the violator is a member of the site and there’s no other way to report the violation.
Often:
- An entire site is devoted to piracy.
- The owners are the ones profiting from it.
- The contact information is obscured by private registration.
Search for a registrar contact email, such as abuse@fake-domain.com or domain-abuse@fake-domain.com, and contact them directly.
Need More Sites?
Search your favorite search engine for WHOIS domain lookup.
Report DMCA Violations via DMCA.com
Note: This is not a free service.
“The most effective method of removing your stolen content from another website is to file a DMCA Takedown. To get started you can submit your request with DMCA.com here: DMCA Takedown Form. If someone has stolen your content and is publishing it without your permission on another website, DMCA.com can help. Simply submit the name and location of where you found your stolen content and we go to work on your behalf.”
https://www.dmca.com/FAQ/Report-copyright-infringement
The Writer’s Lexicon series
and additional resources on my Facebook page.
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Thanks for sharing this great list Kathy. <3
You’re welcome, DG. I hope it will help a few frustrated writers.
Sharing…
Thanks, Jacqui!
Thank you for this post. It is extremely useful. I’ll be keeping it.
Thanks, V.M. I wrote this for writers who despise unauthorized distribution of their work.
However, some writers such as Neil Gaiman, initially upset about book piracy, changed his opinion. He is quoted as saying:
“Then I started to notice that two things that seemed much more significant. One of which was that places where I was being pirated — particularly Russia (where people were translating my stuff into Russian and spreading it out into the world) I was selling more and more books. People were discovering me through being pirated. And then they were going out and buying the real books, and when a new book would come out in Russia it would sell more and more copies.”