A problem that I’m increasingly hearing bloggers voice is that they are finding other blogs (or splogs) blatantly ripping off their content in ways that violate their copyright (scraping, no attribution, republishing feeds and putting ads on them etc).
Lisensa is an interesting new service for bloggers calling itself a copyright management solution that is something between BlogBurst and Creative Commons.
They allow bloggers to set up a copyright licence that outlines the permissions that you’re willing to give other publishers and then allows you to set up a licence and charge other publishers for the privledge of republishing your content.
Basically they are automating the conversation between the copyright holder and commercial purchaser of content.
Lisensa takes 10% of any earnings generated and there is no other fees for bloggers to pay.
It’s an interesting concept although I’m wondering how many people looking for content will actually have the honesty to use it. The thing I like about BlogBurst over this model is that they are actively seeking opportunities for republishing. Lisensa may do this down the track also but don’t really indicate that they will to this point.
found via TechCrunch
if a site takes my content, I contact the host.
@luke
Yeah, that’s the easy route, but some and most hosts will require an official DMCA letter and if they do take it to court, is it really worth it to go after them for taking a little bit of your content vs the fees for lawyers?
Really depends how valuable your content is to you.
Or on the image of your site.
Eg: if you copied all google content and made a google site.
They would own you.
It does sound like a great conept in theory, but I think those stealing the content aren’t the type to pay for something. This may work to syndicate a blog; but then why not just speak directly with the owner?
Happened to me just last week. Contacted the culprit and he fixed it in a matter of minutes.
I doubt their service will be successful. Who so huge a blogger that needs a middleman? Okay, maybe you Darren, but not me! ;)
All my blogs and all the content I create (music, video, written and spoken word) I release to the public domain. I tell people to take my content and copy it and put their own name on it without telling anyone who wrote it originally. Guess what? It makes me more money this way.
What I write about is fairly unique, so when others copy it, it creates a new demand for information on the topic. People eventually find their way to my site.
Copyright is the use of force, and I am against the use of force. If I have something I don’t want anyone copying, I don’t tell anyone or put it out there! Duh.
Bloggers who hold on to copyright today will be left behind tomorrow. Aggregators, spammers, copiers, bootleggers – they’re all my friends because they get my information out there and eventually it seems more people are aware of the topics I talk about.
I can’t be thankful enough.
I completely agree with brem. And it happened to me also, you can’t avoid it.