Q: I have a questions about copyright infringement and my stolen content
Hello, I am an artist known by the name LeopARTnik (everyone calls me Leo). I create different content but lately, it is short video animations. I am not making money on my work yet. I am still growing and building my audience but it is growing rather fast. The issue I want to discuss is related to the social network platform TikTok.I find people are stealing my content there. They crop out my watermark or cover it with something. When I find my stolen content I file copyright infringement. It takes long time for TikTok to respond but eventually the video is removed. Here is where I see the problem and this is how it affects me. First of all, stolen content I find usually very well promoted, it is shown on FYP (for you page) and it has a lot of views. Stolen content is promoted by the TikTok account that stole my content is growing. That same (authentic) content on my account is not promoted and in the end, these accounts are growing at my expense. I asked TikTok to promote my authenti
A:
This is a common problem. The first thing you should do is register your copyrights. You typically have less leverage if you are not registered. Registration will definitely help you with infringement moving forward. I would need to know more about where the works are being copied from and other details to give you my best thoughts. Check out these articles and feel free to reach out...
https://www.traverselegal.com/blog/do-i-really-need-to-register-my-copyrights/
https://www.traverselegal.com/blog/what-is-copyright-infringement/
A:
Leo, your plight is very common.
As indicated before, you have more leverage if your work is registered.
You could sue the infringers and get a minimum statutory awards.
You should definitely review and revamp your strategy to focus on getting revenue your way, rather than others benefiting.
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