Why swiping "boiler plate" legal disclaimers can get you sued or worse
Published: Sat, 04/13/19
“What I'm wondering, is if you're cool with me duplicating the 'Publisher's Notice' block you have stamped in 'Email Players,' for use in my newsletter? Either way, thanks!”
This reminded me of a similar question from waaay back in 2013.
Some blue light special who supposedly teaches people how to make seven figures in the fitness industry ripped one of my emails off word-for-word — changing just the signature and the URL — and I hired an intellectual property attorney to deal with it.
Turned out her letter was pretty good at deterring the thieves.
So, I put it up on my site and linked to it in every email as my signature as a way to rattle the goo-roo fanboys. And did it ever rattle them — to such an amusing degree I left it there for almost 6 years, even though I knew it was distracting readers from clicking the link I wanted them to actually buy something from… which is why I ultimately stopped linking to it.
But, it was so good, a guy once asked:
“Can I copy that letter from your attorney for my own site?”
The irony was astounding:
The bloke wanted to copy a scathing letter, that was written and copyrighted by an IP attorney whose job it is to go after copyright infringers… that was telling someone not to copy someone else’s work, and the consequences of doing so.
Anyway, here’s my advice to people wanting to copy my legal forms:
They are all written and copyrighted by my internet marketing attorney Mike Young.
Whether it’s my disclaimer pages, my publisher’s notices, or anything else — he owns the rights to them, I merely pay to license them, and I highly suggest you not be cheap and stupid like everyone else about these things, as copying “legalese” — yes, even the verbiage you think is canned “boiler plate” — can get you in a lot of trouble.
If you think I’m just saying this to scare you away, consider this:
When I told Mike Young about how people were always trying to “lift” the legal forms and disclaimers, etc he owns, thinking it’s just “boiler plate” and it must work because “that’s what Ben uses lol!”, he told me something that’ll help sober up even the laziest marketers drunk on swiping and copying:
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About 10 years ago, an Internet marketer ripped off an attorney’s website legal documents and created a forms generator software application.
Not sure what the developer ended up paying to settle but he did make a very public apology for the theft and gave the attorney the customer list (including many IM "gurus"). The attorney apparently went to each of the customers and demanded between $3,000 and $5,000 to license the docs. The alternative was a copyright infringement suit in which he could seek $150,000 in statutory damages plus attorney's fees.
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Something else to think about:
Frankly, it would not surprise me one bit if these internet attorneys all had a Google search going, and were subscribed to lists of marketers with print newsletters, membership sites, eBooks, etc... making a long list of dozens — if not hundreds — of infringers ripping off their work, big and small, and will one day take them down one-by-one when it’s expedient to.
Yes, this incessant pirating and word-for-word swiping can be expensive.
Not just in lost sales because it makes you sound like a hack and amateur
But, also, if you get caught, too.
Anyway, those are my non-legal opinions on the matter.
Do with this info what you will.
In the meantime:
If you want to learn some ways to make sure your emails are compliant with the law, that you aren’t doing something without even realizing it that can land you in some hot water, you may want to check out Mike Young’s (short) new book on the subject at the (non-affiliate) links below:
* Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q2DSMTN/
* Paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942226055/
Ben Settle