A while back, we were introduced to a site that lets you type in your web site's domain name - or even a specific page URL on your site - to see if the content on your page is being used on any other sites. We thought this was an interesting concept, so we plugged in our URL and were shocked to find our content was - word for word - being used on a number of other web sites - without our permission, obviously!

To add insult to injury, several of the sites that had outright ripped off our copy were themselves designers. In one case, the person had not only stolen our copy, but images from our portfolio, advertising our work as their own. Imagine being a client of an unscrupulous designer who searches out someone else's web site to steal content to sell themselves to said client on merits that are not their own.

Needless to say, we were not about to take theft of our copyrighted content and images lying down! We immediately had our legal advisor draft a cease-and-desist message which was sent to the owners of each of the offending sites. Most responded quickly - and apologetically - and complied with our request for removal of our content from their sites. In one case, the owner of a printing company web site told us that the person who developed the site for them provided the copy and he was dumbfounded when we presented him with our claim of plagiarism. That case proved to be the most difficult to resolve, with the developer initially refusing to co-operate. Within a few days, however, it was, thankfully, resolved.

So, the moral of this story is two-fold:

Be pro-active in protecting your copyrighted material. Your content represents countless hours of research, writing and testing and monetary investment. Don't let some fly-by-night thief take advantage of what is rightfully yours.

And, equally important - be careful who you hire. If the combination of stellar portfolio and bargain-basement pricing seems too good to be true - it probably is. Competent, experienced design professionals know the value of what they provide to a client and their rates will reflect that value. Do a thorough background check on the person/firm to be sure they're legit. Ask to speak to former clients and ask if the work they received measured up to the portfolio they were shown.

While it's unfortunate that there are unsavory sorts who would stoop to outright theft of someone else's content, it is, in fact, a reality. The best defense against these types of crooks is to not let them get away with it. You can bet the people we caught ripping off our content will think twice before doing it again. Once busted, twice shy.

Check out the Copyscape web site to find out if your content is being used without permission.