Wayback Machine and Copyright Infringement?

[Blakester]

Hello guys, how are you?

I'd like to know if it's copyright infringement to use the exact same content since the owner has abandoned it, and if yes, how do you go about it?

Do you write new content on the pages or just leave them as they are, set up a contact form and if the owner asks you to remove the content, you then go ahead and remove it?

Or you just don't care at all?

I've created a poll to distinguish your answers easier, thank you a lot for your time.

Take care

 

[Brian Alexander]

OF COURSE it is copyright infringement. You're using content made by a third party without their consent.

If you are referring to a PBN, then I generally recreate the site exactly as it was. You'll find that only few previous webmasters will contact you regarding a complaint.

 

[Blakester]

OF COURSE it is copyright infringement. You're using content made by a third party without their consent.

If you are referring to a PBN, then I generally recreate the site exactly as it was. You'll find that only few previous webmasters will contact you regarding a complaint.

Hello, thank you for your response.

Yes I'm exactly referring to a PBN, that's what I care about the most.
I have no problem to post new content, but I'm afraid that if I change the site's content too much I'll lose link juice or leave footprints, but I might be wrong.

In other words, should I receive your response as the 2nd answer in the poll "I set up a contact form to be able to receive emails to take content down if asked to" ?

Thanks

 

[Nargil]

You won't lose any link juice when you put on a new content. Whether you use previous content or a new one absolutely does not matter. The content has already been deindexed and its age lost so yeh, it doesn't matter.

You want your PBN sites to be as niche relevant as possible when it comes to content, thus I am not a huge fan of rebuilding. Also, you can have some issues with copyright, it happens more often than you think. Most of the time it's enough to just take the content down. Being too pussy-ish about it doesn't make sense, so don't worry.

 

[JustCash]

The legality is definitely in the grey area. It really depends why the expired domain was abandoned in the first place - if the brand / site is still active but just on another URL then they will probably take issue with your taking their content. If the site has been dead for a while and the brand is no longer active then no one will even notice and you can go about reviving the site.

 

[Aty]

As long as it passes Copyscape I don't care where it is from.

 

[imagetypers]

Right away copyright infringement and moreover your SEO will fall down drastically, better rewrite it or and add some material of your own!

 

[djp371]

It is fine. But also make sure that exact content doesn't exist anywhere as "indexed".

 

[Blakester]

I read all responses thank you everyone for your input and votes.

Right away copyright infringement and moreover your SEO will fall down drastically, better rewrite it or and add some material of your own!

I agree about the copyright infringement and I'm against it, but may I ask why do you say that I'll get affected negatively by SEO since I'll get a dropped domain with its own context?

 

[davids355]

I wouldn't worry too much, if the domain is dropped then it's unlikely the previous owner will care, or even know.

If you get asked to take down the content then do so.

And I don't see why there would be a negative effect on seo.

 

[starki]

The legality is definitely in the grey area.

No grey area, from a legal point of view it's a copyright infringement to publish content someone else owns without explicit consent, no matter if this third party is using it online or not. You'll rarely face a problem anyway, even if you are rebuilding sites 1:1, but you have to be aware that there is a very slight chance that someone sues you for this. I reality, you'll just get a request to take it down once every 75 domains or so, C&D or similar, but if you are really unlucky and the content owner is really pissed, they can take you to court without foreplay.

 

[bobs01]

I think what the conclusion is from the experts is:

Is it legal? No

Is the risk worth it? Depends on the site your ripping off but most sites will be fine.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

If you use links to where you got material from you can avoid most of the problems, but not completely.
Dealing with DMCA on a daily basis (our articles are being stolen)... .

 

[adeniyi faith]

copy and rewrite the article.

 

[imagetypers]

I read all responses thank you everyone for your input and votes.

I agree about the copyright infringement and I'm against it, but may I ask why do you say that I'll get affected negatively by SEO since I'll get a dropped domain with its own context?

That should not affect SEO but once a content of a article is indexed it will not improve your SEO any further