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What Would You Do if another Retailer was Copying Your Product Descriptions?

February 5, 2008

Grant a wish! We’d love your feedback on this critical issue. Here is an email I received from a Startup Princess recently:

I have an issue that I thought you might be able to provide some insight. 90% of the product descriptions on my site are written by me. I spend many hours writing them as best as I could. Sometimes I look at other retailers for ideas, but ultimately the work is different than everyone else’s.

We are the first to carry quite a number of items, I know because I research online like mad on less common items. As these products become popular and talked about, other retailers start to notice and start carrying them also. That’s great and dandy, and expected, but the thing that is bothering me greatly is, I recently came upon 2 sites that started carrying the items after us, and found they have copied my descriptions word for word, down to the punctuation and quotations. I recognize my own work and it is obvious those descriptions/content came from our website.

Couple of things to keep in mind, (1) I don’t know if they are aware the content/work is my original. However, (2) the manufacturer/distributor for these particular products do not provide descriptions.

I do realize that people are likely going to copy if they see something is good and nice, but it is my own original work and content that they are stealing!! What can I do, what do I say, and how do I approach these retailers? Or should I just let it go, what would you do if you were me? Thanks in advance for any advice / tips you can provide. I do not want others to steal my work.

Written by startupprincess · Filed Under Feature, Startup & Grow 

  Startup Princess is an international network committed to empowering Women Entrepreneurs by offering resources for women in business to support, mentor, collaborate, learn from, and inspire one another. In 2006, after struggling to raise funding for an initial startup business venture, Kelly King Anderson recognized an important market niche existed for reliable resources educating women desiring to start and grow successful businesses, thus Startup Princess was developed.

Successful women entrepreneurs understand that for every business venture, they are in charge of creating, organizing, developing, managing, and assuming all the risks associated with their enterprise. That can seem quite intimidating but as other women business owners will tell you, it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it! Success is within your grasp and Startup Princess is here to help.

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