Stolen Content and what you can do
Posted by John Honeck on April 13th, 2007
Google hates stolen content just as much as you do, luckily there is an official channel to get that content removed, which outlined here.
Often if you file notice with the host of the site that has your stolen content on it, they will remove the site during their investigation. Since the site will then show 404’s for the pages while the site is down, you can then have it removed from Google’s search results.
Google’s proceedure:
To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following format (including section numbers):
1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon (for example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html”) or other information sufficient to specify the copyrighted work being infringed (for example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the “Touch Not This Cat†by Dudley Smith, published by Smith Publishing, ISBN #0123456789″).
2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above.
FOR WEB SEARCH, YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH SEARCH RESULT THAT DIRECTLY LINKS TO A WEB PAGE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS INFRINGING MATERIAL. This requires you to provide (a) the search query that you used, and (b) the URL for each allegedly infringing search result.
For example, suppose (hypothetically) that you conducted a search on google.com using the query “google”, and found that the third and fourth results directly link to a web page that you believe infringes the copyrighted text you identified in item #1 above. In this case, you would provide the following information:
Search Query: Infringing Web Pages: www.infringingwebsite.com
directory.infringingwebsite.comIf you are sending a large number of URLs in one removal request, please also send an electronic copy of the notice to removals@google.com.
3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred).
4. Provide information, if possible, sufficient to permit Google to notify the owner/administrator of the allegedly infringing webpage or other content (email address is preferred).
5. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”
6. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
7. Sign the paper.
8. Send the written communication to the following address:
Google, Inc.
Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043OR fax to:
(650) 963-3255, Attn: Google Legal Support, DMCA Complaints
Please note that a copy of each legal notice we receive is sent to a third-party partner for publication and annotation. As such, your letter (with your personal information removed) will be forwarded to Chilling Effects (http://www.chillingeffects.org) for publication. You can see an example of such a publication at http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=861. A link to your published letter will be displayed in Google’s search results in place of the removed content.