In online business, most people write articles to promote a service and attract customers. A copyright attorney for example might write an article on the difference between Trademark and Copyright law to help internet readers decide which works best for them. That author usually includes credits that bring the reader back to the author’s website. Sharing helpful information in return for possible clients is commonly used to promote a business / website.
Unfortunately, there are those who would take others’ copyrighted work, run it through an article spinner, and use the output to promote their own service, or that of someone else, rather than write an article of their own. Because the words are changed and original author’s credits removed, it makes it difficult to find infringing copies and take legal action.
Black Hat SEO and Content Theft
Enter the world of Black Hat SEO, a method of promoting websites in a way that’s often unethical and violate search engine guidelines. One such tactic is to “Spin-Up” an article by using “Content Spinning Software”. You input the copyrighted article into the spinner and the software converts it to a new article with different wording. Here is an example of a few paragraphs from a spun article:
| Copyrighted Article | Spun Version of Article |
| Title: Trademark Versus Copyright: Which Applies to Your Content? | Title: Logo Against Copyright laws: Of which Is true for Your site content? |
| In my work, I encounter this particular confusion quite regularly – clients (and adverse parties) seem to think that copyright applies to both a website and its domain name. But this belief is incorrect. Here’s a simple, easy way to remember it: | At my work, We encounter this type of frustration extremely regularly – consumers (in addition to negative individuals) manage to are convinced trademark refers to equally a website along with its web site. And yet the faith is certainly improper. This is an easy, fantastic way to recall the application: |
| Copyrights are for Content. Trademarks are for goods/services. | Copyrights can be just for Subject matter. Images usually are pertaining to goods/services. |
As you can see, the result of content spinning is often difficult to comprehend and sometimes down right ridiculous; take the snippet below for example and notice how “Mayo Clinic” was changed to “Mayonnaise Provider”:
Copyrighted Article:
A recent case involving a dispute between the famous Mayo Clinic and a former employee, a physician, has been in the legal news. Mayo and Dr. Peter Elkin are battling about who owns the rights to a software program
Spun Version:
A recent event associating a new argue between famed Mayonnaise Provider and also an ex – workforce, medic, has elevated the authorized news flash. Mayonnaise along with Dr .. John p Elkin are generally striving regarding who owns the actual privileges to a new software programs
Legal Ramifications of Spinning Content
Q) Is Content Spinning illegal?
A) Yes, if you are using another author’s work without permission.
Q) How will the original author find me?
A) A DeSpinner can help find the person responsible for stealing content and republishing it as their own.
Q) What if I write my own article and put it through an article spinner to create 10 new versions?
A) You are not violating any copyright laws UNLESS, the article spinner pulls copyrighted images from the internet to supplement the spun article.
Busted Either Way!
Even if you take care to not break any laws, you WILL BE violating search engine guidelines such as Google and Bing. In fact, if it works and you see your website move ahead of the competition, the competition could end up suing you!
Does spinning fool the search engines? In some cases, perhaps, but only for a time. At first, Google may believe the spun article is unique work promoting the website being linked to and increase traffic accordingly. However, search engines eventually discover the fraud and take corrective action; that corrective action could be a ban on your entire website (as in no online customers!)
Moral of this story: There is no substitute for original work! And If you’re going to hire someone to promote your website, make sure they do it legally or you could end up destroying your business, and your reputation!
If you discover that your content was spun, hire an attorney that specializes in copyright infringement law with experience on article spinners – they will usually evaluate your case for free and if they’re confident of a win, may take your case for a percentage of the settlement!
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