I sold an article for usage rights. Curious about where it ended up, I copyscaped it and found that it has been posted in four locations. Two are from the same site, one is from a third site that resembles the first two but has a different URL, and one is via a Google proxy feed. None of them maintained my byline, which I have on all my articles. None of the sites has a clear link showing who posted it. (One mentioned the "author" as an Allison, but has no links to her profile that I can find.)
I fully intend to resell my articles and use them in my own portfolio, so I'm not happy with this. How do I address this?
Is this legitimate or...?
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
Re: Is this legitimate or...?
I don't think it's a biggie, but the proxy feed is probably not the customer's fault. He was probably copied, so there is nothing you can do about it really. The only thing you can do is ask what CC does about it.
I'm sure this happens a lot, which is why I just sell usage and full rights at a similar price.
I'm sure this happens a lot, which is why I just sell usage and full rights at a similar price.
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jellygator
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Re: Is this legitimate or...?
Hmm....
I'll have to ponder this one.
I'll have to ponder this one.
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Celeste Stewart
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Re: Is this legitimate or...?
Selling for usage kind of sucks when this happens... Customers forget to include bylines, forget that they can only post the article in one place, make minor changes that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things but still require a full rights license, and so on. Then you have RSS feeds that further dilute the issue if the feeds present the full article elsewhere...
Since the article sold for usage only, you can still use it for your own purposes. However, if the customer didn't include your byline or used the article beyond the one-time license that you granted, then the customer should have (and still should) purchased full rights (to remove the byline and post it in multiple places) or multiple usage licenses (and then included your byline each time with no changes whatsoever). You can contact CC support; they'll usually approach the client and explain the license requirements on your behalf. It's often a misunderstanding on the customer's part. BUT as many of us have experienced, usage licenses are notorious for issues like these which is why many of us don't bother unless we're using the content ourselves and not interested in policing usage.
Since the article sold for usage only, you can still use it for your own purposes. However, if the customer didn't include your byline or used the article beyond the one-time license that you granted, then the customer should have (and still should) purchased full rights (to remove the byline and post it in multiple places) or multiple usage licenses (and then included your byline each time with no changes whatsoever). You can contact CC support; they'll usually approach the client and explain the license requirements on your behalf. It's often a misunderstanding on the customer's part. BUT as many of us have experienced, usage licenses are notorious for issues like these which is why many of us don't bother unless we're using the content ourselves and not interested in policing usage.
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jellygator
- Posts: 230
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Re: Is this legitimate or...?
I may have inadvertently addressed it incorrectly, then. 
I will see if the steps I've taken resolve it, and if not, will contact CC directly.
I will see if the steps I've taken resolve it, and if not, will contact CC directly.