When you produce online content for your website, blog, social media or another outlet, the moment you publish the content, you own it. Thank goodness for Copyright Protections.

That ownership applies to any content posted online, whether it’s a blog post, photograph, infographic, video or another type of online post.

Protecting your online content is made possible through the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which protects website owners and publishers and their content from illegal use by others.

Some limited use is allowed by other parties, but the copyright owners ultimately have the final say on who can copy content and publish on other online sites or other publications.

Copyright Protections

‘Takedown Notice’ Removes Most Illegal Content

If you have taken the time to create unique content for your website or other publication and it gets co-opted and used for other purposes by someone else, that person is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Removing the content will require sending a “takedown notice” to the offending party, which hopefully will comply. If the content remains, then legal actions can be taken, including suing the offending party for punitive damages as well as copyright infringement.

Registered websites on the federal DMCA site will have more legal authority to demand the removal of copyrighted content that appears on other sites and publications.

Takedown Notice Must Contain Certain Info

When sending a takedown notice to an offending site or other publication, the notice must provide accurate information to be valid.

The notice must include a description of the content, the material infringing upon the content and its location, full contact details and a statement that the information provided is accurate.

A statement also must be provided indicating you either own the copyright or are acting on behalf of the copyright owner and that there was no authorization for the content to be used, and all of the information must have an electronic or physical signature.

Have you ever produced content others have used?