Imagine how you would feel if, having spent the effort, time, and expense on having a professional website designed by a web design agency, you publish your site and then weeks later you discover that another business or individual has copied the content on your website and used on theirs. We are assuming that would create any number of emotions including anger.
Whilst copying content from a website might not seem as serious a crime as walking into a business and stealing money or products, but it is stealing, nonetheless. This type of stealing is called copyright theft, and the good news is you do have legal rights that can protect you from it and seek recourse if it happens to you.
The theft of content from a website can elicit a claim for a breach of copyright under the 1968 Copyright Act. The types of content that are covered include written text, images, illustrations, and videos. Almost anything which has been created on your behalf and published on your website should be covered bar a few exceptions, such as public domain content.
If you suspect that someone has stolen content from your website or have evidence that they have done so, then the first step is to contact your commercial lawyer. One of the first tasks they will advise is to try is to have the stolen content removed from where it has been published and your lawyers will also explain the most effective methods of achieving that.