Protect Your Intellectual Property

A Promdi Blogger’s take on life in the Philippine countryside.

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15 May 2008

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photo credit: Sam UL

I want to gain popularity as much as the next blogger, even just within my circle of influence. Otherwise, I would have kept a diary instead of a blog. We blog because we want to reach out to a certain audience. Why do you join social networks? Why do you think there’s social networks in the first place? Unless you want to be the wallflower, you joined social networks to get noticed. Everybody wants to be popular!

I’ve read a lot of bloggers complain about their work, blog entries and photos, being copied by other bloggers and even by mainstream media. I also had a blog post copied without my permission, not even a linkback least of all credit. Some people think that because it’s easy to copy information from the web that it’s alright to copy them. Well, it’s not.

As much as you may love writing, it’s not always that easy to think of something interesting to write about. The process of translating your thoughts into coherent paragraphs takes time and effort no matter how good a writer you are. As much as possible you don’t want other people to use your work without permission or gain credit for your hard work.

As a blogger, how would you protect your intellectual property?

You can install plugins that badges such as Creative Commons and Copyscape to be explicit on how you want your copyrighted materials to be used. It won’t stop other people from copying but those who understand what those mean will be forewarned.

Battles on intellectual property can be time consuming and expensive if taken to court. If you think you have all the proof and have a good lawyer, by all means pursue your legal rights. However, please try to settle first out of court. Once you learned that your work has been used without your permission, try to contact the other party. Nobody wants to go to court here in the Philippines if it can be avoided. If they won’t give in to your demands, then maybe that’s the time you can take legal actions. But be prepared for it financially and emotionally since legal battles in the Philippines can take years

I think every Pinoy blogger should read the Philippine Intellectual Property Code so that we’ll be aware of our rights. This way we’ll know how to protect what rightfully belongs to us and also respect the works of other people.

“Works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as of their content, quality and purpose.” - Sec. 172.2 of the Phil. Intellectual Property Code

It’s called intellectual property for a reason. Those who plagiarize the works of others doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to create their own. I don’t want to be called dumb, so please, if you see anything on this blog which is a possible copyright infringement, kindly e-mail me.

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.promdiliving.com.

10 Comments »

jessie said:

Gladits,

Naku fren sori di ako nakakadalaw masyado sa yo. Busy ang lolo sa kung anik anik. You know what, since last month yan na ang problema kos a blog ko - mga spammers. You really have to protect your intellectual property because if not, then anyone can just steal all your articles just like that. Very frustrating talaga.

jessies last blog post..Small Business Loans for Business-Minded Individuals

# 16 May 2008 at 7:36 pm

gladita (author) said:

Friend, I’ve been busy too pero napapadaan pa rin sa blog mo. Tahimik na nagmamasid. hehehe

# 17 May 2008 at 11:46 am

Javi said:

I had this unpleasant before when one of my articles was brazenly copied by another blogger and passed it off as her own. Unfortunately for her, I am a narcissistic maniac who likes searching for my own works in Google. I was directed to her site and left a, how do i say this, nasty comment on the article. She apologized and promptly edited her post and credited my as the author.

Javis last blog post..Kizuna Satellite Internet Is The Answer

# 23 May 2008 at 1:28 pm

gladita (author) said:

Too bad for her! That’s how I found out too that some people are copying my work… I googled my article.

# 28 May 2008 at 1:08 am

Eunice said:

Several years ago, at the height of Friendster-mania, someone posted picture I had taken and passed them off as their own. I submitted a complaint to Friendster about it and got nothing in reply. I don’t know if they did anything about it. Oh well.

Too bad I didn’t have the guts to leave a message to that particular person.

# 29 May 2008 at 5:11 pm

gladita (author) said:

You should have. At least that person would know you’re not going to take it sitting down.

# 31 May 2008 at 10:00 am

jessie said:

Fren,

i hope you’re doing great kahit na busy ka. wag kang ganong magpapagod. mahirap magkasakit ngayon (isang paalala mula sa Clusivol).

miss lang kita fren.

jessies last blog post..Madonna Decena is Out of Britain’s Got Talent 2008

# 1 June 2008 at 8:38 pm

gladita (author) said:

@Friend Jess - I was away for more than a week. I went to Palawan. Hehehe..Medyo my vacation hangover pa.

# 3 June 2008 at 12:49 am

eric said:

copyright infringement has been very rampant nowadays. i myself has been a victim. my photo was used by a TV network in one of ther popular show. thank god the case is over.

erics last blog post..New Bacolod Silay Airport Security Lapses

# 4 June 2008 at 2:00 pm

gladita (author) said:

Yup, I read that on your blog. You see, I’m a regular lurker. What you did was right at least now they know bloggers are also protecting their rights.

Thanks for dropping by Mr. Byahilo!

# 5 June 2008 at 7:45 am