Copyright infringement often flies under the radar, at least at first. Businesses may not realize that certain content creators online or other businesses have infringed on their copyright protections until something significant occurs. They may see a major drop in certain sales because of someone else using copyrighted creations, or their brand could suffer injury due to the actions of others.
All too often, the biggest copyright violations involve online activity. The internet is rife with copyright infringement, and it can be a challenge for organizations to track and mitigate copyright infringement. A business may lose thousands of dollars or more in revenue or suffer damage to their brands because of copyright infringement online that goes unchecked. Thankfully, there are proactive ways for businesses to identify copyright infringement relatively quickly and take action when it occurs.
1. Track specific search terms online
Multiple different effective search engines allow individuals and businesses to establish alerts about new websites and listings. Creating a variety of alerts that track keywords and phrases associated with a company, its intellectual property and its products can help an organization very quickly discover when another business or an individual has violated their copyright protections.
2. Invest in consistent social media management
Having brand specialists, customer service professionals and social media managers on various social media platforms isn’t just good for company visibility and reaching a specific customer base. Maintaining a consistent online presence can also make it easier to spot the misuse of company intellectual property on different platforms.
From the use of a song in the background of a creator’s video to the sale of t-shirts with a copyrighted photograph by an outside party, there are many infringing economic activities that a company’s social media workers might be able to spot and alert the company about quickly.
Fighting back after a copyright violation will typically require communicating with the other party and sometimes going to court. It can be a lengthy process, but seeking legal guidance and taking action can both protect copyrighted creations and compensate a company for violations. Discovering a copyright violation is an important first step in the enforcement process for a business that has invested in original content and copyright protections.