VERY IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT SEND THE OFFENDING SITE A DIRECT NOTICE.
They may be a click farm looking for you email and you will be infected with a virus.
If they are on Facebook – Use Facebook’s reporting form to remove their link source from Facebook’s server.
My attorney warned me not to click on them, but to send a form letter to their server.
You can find out their server here: http://www.whois.com/whois/
A copy of the take down form letter to send:
SAMPLE DMCA TAKE DOWN NOTICE
My name is INSERT NAME and I am the INSERT TITLE of INSERT COMPANY NAME.
A website that your company hosts (according to WHOIS information) is infringing on at least one copyright owned by my company.
An article was copied onto your servers without permission.
The original ARTICLE/PHOTO, to which we own the exclusive copyrights, can be found at:
PROVIDE WEBSITE URL
The unauthorized and infringing copy can be found at:
PROVIDE WEBSITE URL
This letter is official notification under Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”), and I seek the removal of the aforementioned infringing material from your servers. I request that you immediately notify the infringer of this notice and inform them of their duty to remove the infringing material immediately, and notify them to cease any further posting of infringing material to your server in the future.
Please also be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to remove or disable access to the infringing materials upon receiving this notice. Under US law a service provider, such as yourself, enjoys immunity from a copyright lawsuit provided that you act with deliberate speed to investigate and rectify ongoing copyright infringement. If service providers do not investigate and remove or disable the infringing material this immunity is lost. Therefore, in order for you to remain immune from a copyright infringement action you will need to investigate and ultimately remove or otherwise disable the infringing material from your servers with all due speed should the direct infringer, your client, not comply immediately.
I am providing this notice in good faith and with the reasonable belief that rights my company owns are being infringed. Under penalty of perjury I certify that the information contained in the notification is both true and accurate, and I have the authority to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright(s) involved.
Should you wish to discuss this with me please contact me directly.
Thank you.
/s/YOUR NAME
Address
City, State Zip
Phone
E-mail
You can also go after the scam at the point where they have the most power: Google.
Send a DMCA notice to Google to get the search result removed, and no one will be able to find the pirated ebook listing.
PLEASE NOTE – If YOU come across any further such sites and are CERTAIN they are infringing YOUR copyright.
LET EVERYONE KNOW by POSTING it on YOUR OWN BLOG.
PLUS – send me the direct link to your post so I can check the claim and re-blog here.
If I receive several such separate posts, I will publish a list of them for visitors to go to and take appropriate action after reading your post.
I suggest you use the following style post title (INCLUDING Hash Tags) to ensure the word spreads FAST on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+
#Authors #Copyright #Infringement #Notification
If you have the misconception that you are ‘Nobody Important’, so how could you tackle such a site.
BY NOTIFYING EVERYONE ELSE SO YOU CAN – TOGETHER – MAKE IT WORK.
TSRA
Chris, thank you for the article and for the kind offer to have authors aware of piracy sites contact you directly. You’re reach is far, and we were previously successful in taking down a piracy site using this method (https://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2015/03/03/congratulations-authors-one-battle-won-against-copyright-infringement-update/) due to your ability to spread the word.
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No point in having reach if I don’t use it when it’s most needed Connie 🐵
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With those long hairy arms of yours, you have more reach than most. 🐵
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LOLOL
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I created a Google Alert for my name, and one of my titles (the other is kind of common, but I probably should do it anyway). I’m not sure if there’s a better way to keep track of this sort of thing, other than periodic straight Google searches. Perhaps someone knows a better way. Thanks for these links!
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Welcome and good luck Virginia 🐵
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I’ve found both self-published and traditionally published books simply by typing in “free” before a title, or simply “free books.” You could also check for your title as a pdf version, as this is the format in which most pirates offer the books. Many piracy sites don’t actually have the books: they’re phishing for personal or credit card information, which they often ask for despite the offer of “free” books.
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Readers may be interested in my post regarding possible copyright infringement (http://newauthoronline.com/2016/03/11/copyright-infringement/). Regards, Kevin
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Thanks, Chris. I am tucking this away in case (God forbid) I need this in the future.
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Sorry to say, and admit, that I’m confused. Still not sure what I’d be looking for.
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The link to the infringement site is below my intro Joelle – it’s a Facebook site.
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Thanks.
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Noelleg44, perhaps a post I wrote earlier on this topic might help. It includes a link to Gene Quinn’s site, a patent attorney and the founder of IPWatchdog (http://www.ipwatchdog.com/). My blog post link celebrates the successful take-down of a piracy site with the aid of several self-published authors. Link to the article: https://connieflanagan.wordpress.com/category/copyright-infringement/. The Story Reading Ape was key to this intitiative, spreading the word to his large number of followers. Author Susan M. Toy (https://islandeditions.wordpress.com/about-susan-m-toy/) alerted Chris about the site.
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