It should come as no surprise that IP infringement is rampant on the internet—we regularly assist our clients with Internet-related legal issues. But even we were taken aback after recently coming across a website that, on first glance, appeared to be highly professional, but which in fact consisted of nothing more than large blocks of content copied wholesale from the websites of prominent companies. The "borrowed" text, which was integrated with bold colors and slick graphics, was quilted together in such a way that sounded good on the surface (hey, the content was likely written by some of the brightest and most expensive marketing minds in the business), but upon closer inspection was a mishmash that made little sense.
Out of curiosity, I searched a few lines of the content on Google—and I found that numerous third parties had in fact "borrowed" the same language to promote their own businesses.
Website content, like any fixed work of authorship, is subject to U.S. copyright law. Your company's website is an asset, and website content is an investment. Curious about whether someone has "borrowed" your website content? Just copy and paste a line or two of your text into Google's search form, and you'll find out.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.