Does stolen content matter anymore?

[mclaughlin]

About 3 months ago, someone copied almost all of my content (format and all) changing only the site name and links.  Of course, I was horrified and immediately tried a DMCA but the guy is hosted in Czech Rep so it turn into a pain in the butt.

Long story short, the stolen content is still up.  I figured eventually I would see a hit for the duplicate content but so far, absolutely nothing.  Same rankings, same everything; best thing is, his site doesn't appear to even be on Google.

My question is, does stolen content still matter anymore?  I thought it used to be a huge problem, and I read posts and such of blog owners who have fretted over the consequences to their beloved site.  It seems like Google figured out that since that content was on my site for the past year, I must be the original owner.  They might have even blacklisted the other site; can't find them by typing in their domain anymore.

[ShaMenz]

Hi Matthew,

When you are the originator of the content, the most important thing is to be able to show the search engines that you are the author.

There are some people who are producing great content and actually being outranked with it by sites who have "borrowed" it.

If you implement the rel=author meta tag for all of your content, then you are claiming it as your own. Do this when you create it and even if people use it they will be "outed" with the engines.

John Doherty posted recently in the SEOmoz Blog on Social Network Spam and Author/Agent Rank

Hope that helps,

Sha

[Francisco_Meza]

I think stolen content is less likely to happen today. The rel="canonical" tag let's legit 'borrowers' of content to not get hammered while people like the Czech Rep guy gets hammered.

[RyanKent]

Sha's information is excellent.

I would also share since the guy who stole your content is hosted in the Czech republic, he may have Google.cz as his primary target and accordingly may not be listed in or rank well for Google.com.

Also keep in mind a site which steals content is clearly a black hat site, and they may be penalized as well.

Stolen content can definitely negatively impact your site, but there are numerous steps you can take to minimize or eliminate the impact.

[bootleg]

That's a bit off topic but I'd like to know what the "pain in the butt" for having the stolen content in the Czech Republic actually is. I know the DMCA is an US law and it would be easier if the guy was hosted in the US, but the Czech Rep isn't at the end of the world. As a member of the European Union I could imagine that it's not that hard to take legal action against a Czech company. I.e. not harder than against any company hosted in any other member state. Or are there other rules that apply for the Czech Republic than, say, for France or Germany? (Provided your company is hosted in the US)

[mclaughlin]

I don't have the time or money to try anything else except a DMCA takedown.  If they aren't willing to honor it, and they weren't, then it's just a pain in the butt.

There are some DMCA takedown services that are willing to try "alternative channels" to attempt to get your content taken down, but it is much more expensive.

I don't think it has anything to do with the country, really, I think it is simply that their service provider is a jerk and wants to make it as hard as possible on me.  I don't pay him any monthly money, that guy who stole my stuff does.