Most small businesses invest heavily in their websites, using them as an opportunity to interact with their consumers, increase their visibility, and, ultimately, boost sales. Protecting your investment and ensuring competitors can’t piggyback off your hard work and impact your search engine ranking is crucial. Luckily, most website content is protected by copyright.
While copyright arises automatically, it’s essential for business owners to understand how the law works and take proactive measures to maximise their protection. Here, our copyright solicitors explain what elements of your website benefit from copyright protection, how you can prevent copying, and what you can do if you discover that a third party has reproduced your website or parts of it without permission.
Here we’ll be covering:
- What types of content on websites are protected by copyright?
- What is fair use, and how does it apply to website content?
- How can I protect the content of my website from being used without permission?
- How do I find out if my website content is being used without permission?
- How can I prove that my website content has been copied?
- Can I take legal action if my website content is used without permission?
- How long do I have to make a claim after discovering the copied content?
- Remedies for copyright infringement
- Can I take any other action if my website content is used without permission?
- Summary
What types of content on websites are protected by copyright?
Unlike some forms of intellectual property, such as trade marks, you do not need to register copyright to benefit from its protection. Copyright arises automatically, provided the material you want to protect satisfies specific requirements. It must be original, meaning it was not copied from something else. It must also be recorded, whether in writing or otherwise. Copyright applies to original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts, and typographical arrangements.
Copyright cannot protect the idea behind your website. For example, no one can own the idea for a website on which people sell their used items. Copyright can protect how you express that idea as well as the material you use to develop the website. Examples of the parts of your website that might be protected by copyright include the following:
- The copy.
- The images.
- The music and sound.
- Any films, videos, or vodcasts you include.
- The software code.
What is fair use, and how does it apply to website content?
Fair use is an important principle in copyright law. It permits the limited use of copyright material without the owner’s permission in certain circumstances. Those circumstances include study, review, reporting current events, and parody. If a third party’s use of your material falls within the remit of ‘fair dealing’, it will not constitute copyright infringement.
What will be classed as ‘fair dealing’ depends on the circumstances. If the third party’s use of your website material causes you financial loss, it’s unlikely to qualify as fair dealing. Fair dealing usually only justifies the use of a part of a work. If entire sections of your website have been reproduced, the third party would be hard-pressed to rely on fair use.
If you’re unsure whether an unauthorised use of your website constitutes fair use, speak to us. Our specialist copyright solicitors will review the matter, advise on your legal position, and explain your options.
How can I protect the content of my website from being used without permission?
Preventing third parties from using your website content without permission in the first place is always preferable to seeking to address it after the event. There are several proactive measures business owners can take to protect their material, including the following:
Include a clear copyright notice on every webpage
Copyright protection is automatic, so you don’t need to include a copyright notice to obtain it. Including one in a prominent position on each of your web pages is a good opportunity to remind visitors of your legal rights and reiterate that they can’t use your content. Placing the notice in the website’s sidebar ensures it will always be visible to users.
For example, if third-party use is prohibited entirely, you might include a notice along the following lines:
'© [owner’s name] and [website name], [date you created the work]. Unauthorised use of any material held on this website is strictly prohibited.'
Add watermarks to photographs and images
Watermarks aren’t infallible, but including one on your images and photographs might deter third parties from stealing them. Any that are stolen will display your business name, so anyone viewing them will know they belong to you. It’s important to place the watermark in a central position to ensure it can’t be cropped out.
Use low-resolution files
You might consider using low-resolution images and photos on your website where possible. While the images will look fine online, they won’t print out properly.
Use terms and conditions
You can expressly prohibit any unauthorised use of your website material in your terms and conditions. Of course, few customers read website terms and conditions, and enforcing them can be tricky, but they offer an additional layer of protection and may discourage some would-be copyright thieves.
Disable copying options
Most users copy website text by selecting, copying, and pasting it. They usually save images by right-clicking on them. You can incorporate plugins to disable these options and protect your website copy and images.
Restrict access
Depending on the types of content you include on your website, you could consider restricting access to some of it. This option can be useful for businesses that produce labour-intensive material, such as surveys or research papers on specific areas of interest but is of little use to others.
Anti-bot technology
Anti-bot technology blocks web scrapers from accessing your website. Web scrapers are automated bots that scour the internet for specific content and extract what it wants from third-party websites. If your business has an issue with web scrapers, it might be worth considering investing in anti-bot technology to stop them.
How do I find out if my website content is being used without permission?
Before you can address any unauthorised use of your website content, you need to be aware of it. You can use various methods to establish if your website content is being used without permission, including the following:
Conduct internet searches
Periodic internet searches can identify whether your website has been copied on another site. You might focus on competitors’ websites or enter unique sections of your copy into the search bar and see if anything comes up.
Set up a Google Alert
The Google alert system notifies you each time the content you have set up the alert for appears on the internet. You should choose something unique to your site to avoid being inundated with irrelevant alerts. The Google alert service is free.
Use monitoring tools
Advanced software can help you keep on top of the unauthorised use of your website content by monitoring the internet for any potential issues. For example, Copyscape Premium looks for content copied from the URL entered by the user and highlights any matches, including partial and modified copies. If content theft is causing significant issues for your business, you might consider using a paid service, like Copysentry, which monitors the internet daily or weekly for copies of your content and alerts you to anything it finds.
How can I prove that my website content has been copied?
Copyright only protects against third parties copying your website content. If they came up with the material themselves, you won’t be able to prevent them from using it, no matter how similar it is to yours. Being able to prove copying is required.
Proving copying is an art, not a science, and often necessitates piecing together various pieces of information and drawing the necessary inferences.
Examples of the types of evidence that can assist include the following:
Evidence of you creating the material
You must be able to show how you designed your website and created the content included on it. Not only will this prove that you own it, but it will also show that your work was original and predated the other party’s. For example, if they have used an image taken from your website, you should collect evidence of when and how the photograph was taken.
Evidence showing when the content was uploaded
You need to establish when the content first appeared on your website to prove that the other party had access to it. You might have internal records showing the publication date you can rely on. If you don’t, various methods can assist you in dating a webpage, including searching the source code and using the website archive, the ‘wayback machine’.
Evidence showing the extent of the copying
The other party’s material does not be identical to yours to constitute copyright infringement; that they have copied a ‘substantial part’ is enough. What constitutes a ‘substantial part’ is a qualitative as well as a quantitative test. If they have copied large chunks of your website, they have likely copied a substantial part. Even if they have only copied bits of it or changed the material slightly, they may still have copied a substantial part in some circumstances. Our copyright solicitors will assess the website you’re concerned about and advise whether it recreates a ‘substantial part’ of yours.
Evidence that the other party had access to your material
To establish copying, you must prove that the other party saw your material before they created theirs. In some copyright infringement cases, this can be a difficult task. In cases involving stolen website content, it’s often easy to prove since the content is freely available online. If the copying is blatant, the other party will likely struggle to maintain that they had not seen yours before creating their own.
Evidence of your losses
If the other party’s actions have resulted in financial losses to your business, you can claim those losses as ‘damages’. You’ll need to support your damages claims with evidence. For example, if your website numbers have dwindled and your sales have dropped, you might produce details of your website traffic before and after the other party took your content.
Can I take legal action if my website content is used without permission?
Yes, someone using your website content without permission constitutes copyright infringement and you can take legal action.
Most copyright infringement claims begin with a cease and desist letter from the content owner’s solicitors to the third party using it without consent. The letter explains your legal rights and how the recipient is acting unlawfully and tells them what they must do to avoid facing legal proceedings. In copyright infringement matters, the cease and desist usually includes a series of ‘undertakings’, which are legal promises to refrain from doing something. The undertakings generally include an undertaking to stop using the copied material and to pay damages. If the recipient signs and subsequently breaches the undertakings, you may be able to sue them for breach of contract.
Where the third party using your material has no defence to your allegations, a cease and desist letter from a solicitors’ firm often ends the matter. Even if they don’t accept your position, the letter can open negotiations between the parties’ legal advisors, resulting in a mutually acceptable resolution.
If the other party persists with their unauthorised use of your website content, our copyright solicitors will advise you on the best course of action. In cases involving prolonged, extensive infringement that is affecting your business’s reputation and profits, they might suggest Court proceedings to enforce your rights and recover damages. Even if you issue a claim, chances are it will settle before trial.
How long do I have to make a claim after discovering the copied content?
A claim for copyright infringement must be made within six years of the infringement or the date you became aware of it. If you miss the deadline, you can’t bring a claim.
If you discover that someone is using your website content without permission, swift action is needed. Any significant delay can cause irreparable harm to your business and may impact your legal position.
Remedies for copyright infringement
If your copyright infringement claim succeeds, you will likely be granted the following remedies:
An injunction
An injunction is a type of Court Order that prohibits a party from doing something. In copyright infringement cases, the injunction will prevent the other party from infringing your website copyright. An injunction is usually endorsed with a penal notice, meaning that if the party against whom it is made disobeys its terms, they may be held in contempt of Court and face a fine or even imprisonment.
Damages or an account of profits
Damages or an account of profits are financial remedies. A successful Claimant in copyright infringement cases can elect whichever is more advantageous to them.
Damages are based on the losses you have sustained because of the copyright infringement, such as lost sales. An account of profit is where the other party has to pay any profits they made from their infringing activities over to you.
A declaration
The Court may make a declaration that copyright subsists in your website and that the other party has infringed it. Declarations can be useful in very public cases or to deter others from copying your website content.
Publication and dissemination
The Court may order that the judgment be published and disseminated. This remedy can be a valuable deterrent against others copying your website since it alerts people to the fact that you have brought and won a copyright infringement claim.
Can I take any other action if my website content is used without permission?
There are various non-legal steps a business owner can take to address the problem of their website content being used without permission. For example, you can report the infringing website to Google, which might take it down or restrict access to it. You might be able to contact key third parties, such as the website host, and ask that the content be removed. These processes can be complex, but our copyright solicitors have vast experience navigating them and will do so on your behalf.
The measures we mention above can be useful in dealing with the existing infringing material, but they might not address the underlying issue, since the other party may simply repost the content elsewhere. Depending on the circumstances, our copyright infringement solicitors might advise combining such steps with legal action.
Summary
Your website is fundamental to your business’s marketing strategy, so protecting it against copying is essential. Luckily, there are various measures a business owner can implement to minimise the risk of their website content being stolen, many of which are straightforward and free. Our copyright solicitors will advise you on the most appropriate for your situation.
If you discover that someone has copied your website or a part of it, prompt action is vital to safeguard your reputation and maintain your profitability. Luckily, most of your website content will likely be protected by copyright, meaning you can take legal action against anyone who copies it without permission. The law is complex, so taking expert legal advice is essential. Our copyright solicitors will swiftly review your issue and advise on your options for securing the permanent removal of the infringing content as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible, along with your entitlement to other relief, such as damages.
