When you’re selling digital products, you benefit from theabsence ofinventory andshipping, but you get piracy asaconstant threat instead. Itisremarkably easy forsomeone tosteal your intellectual property— music, designs, eBooks, software— anddistribute itunder their own name.
The numbers associated with piracy are staggering. Microsoft estimates that piracy costs thesoftware industry Another estimate pegs theloss between within theUSalone.
Regardless ofthenumbers, one thing isclear: theft can beaserious problem when you’re selling digital products.
Fortunately, there are some ways you can make theft much, much harder. We’ll show you how toprotect your digital products inthis article.
Rethink Digital Protection
Before wedive into thedetails ofdigital protection, it’s important that you view itwith theright frame ofmind.
Simply put, there isnosuch thing as100% foolproof protection when itcomes todigital goods. Thousands ofbusiness around theworld have been trying tosolve this problem, including massive software companies like Microsoft, andthey haven’t fully succeeded.
The reality oftheinternet isthat ifthere issufficient demand foraproduct, someone somewhere will figure out away toaccess itforfree.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t invest inpiracy protection atall. Instead, itmeans that you need toview digital products through adifferent lens.
Keep two things inmind:
- The harder aproduct istosteal, theless motivated people will betosteal it.
- Ifitissubstantially easier tobuy theproduct than tosteal it, more people will bewilling topay.
The second point isparticularly important andisthereason behind thesuccess ofsites like Spotify. Bymaking itmuch easier tostream music legally, Spotify removed themotivation topirate music. Little wonder that .
Sowhatever protection tactics you choose, make sure that your product isa)harder tosteal, andb)easier tobuy.
This might mean changing your distribution tactic. For instance, instead ofcreating software andselling itvia downloads, try turning itinto asubscription model where customers pay afixed fee toaccess theproduct each month (i.e. SaaS).
Bymaking access easier, you will encourage more legitimate buyers anddiscourage theft.
Tactics toProtect Digital Products
Not every tactic toprotect digital products will work equally well. Below, we’ve shared afew tactics aswell astheir quality ofprotection offered, andwhat kind ofproduct they work best for.
1.Copyright Your Product
Getting acopyright will not prevent theft, but itwill make iteasier toseek redressal incase someone steals your product. This essentially notes that you are therightful owner ofaspecific piece ofintellectual property (IP), andthus, can take someone tocourt forviolating thecopyright.
Since copyrighting isalegal matter that varies from country tocountry, werecommend that you consult alocal lawyer who specializes incopyright law. dz’re intheUS, you can consult the Office aswell.
Dokeep inmind thefollowing points before you think ofgetting acopyright:
- Copyrights are not universal— acopyright intheUSwill not protect you from theft anddistribution inChina.
- Not every product can becopyrighted. IntheUS, forinstance, titles, names, phrases, slogans, ideas, etc. cannot beplaced under copyright. Literary works (including unique content), unique designs, software, etc. can be. Check your country’s laws before you proceed.
- Any unique you publish online isautomatically placed under copyright asper theDMCA, even ifitdoesn’t have thecopyright symbol (©).
Getting acopyright isnot always necessary. Inmany cases, itmight even bewasteful, especially ifyou’re producing alot ofunique IPrapidly. dz’re publishing online, you might bealready protected under .
Nevertheless, explore this asanoption ifyou’re spending alot ofresources tocreate unique IP.
Also listen to
2.Hide Your Product from Prying Eyes
Making theproduct hard tofind forsearch engines andspies should bethefirst step inyour digital protection plan. After all, ifthey can’t find it, they can’t easily steal it.
dz sell digital goods with 51Ƶ, you don’t have totake thethree steps below. Simply upload digital products toyour store— 51Ƶ will generate links fordownload after each purchase andwon’t pass them tosearch engines.
There are alot ofways you can hide your
A.Place your product inside aZip file
dz’re selling documents (such asaneBook) inaPDF file, search engines can easily read thefile andmake itvisible insearch results. Anyone can then use thefiletype operator inGoogle tofind these documents onyour site.
Aneasy way toworkaround this problem istoplace thePDF inanarchive (.zip or.rar file). Search engines cannot read these files, soyour data can remain safe.
B.Hide open directories onyour site
dz’re storing your files inaseparate directory onyour site (such asyoursite.com/downloads), people can view its contents bydirectly accessing itintheir browsers.
Aneasy way tohide open directories istocreate a.htaccess file inyour site’s root folder. Inthe.htaccess file, add thefollowing:
Options— Indexes
Now whenever someone tries toaccess open directories onyour site, they’ll see a403Forbidden error like this:
C.Stop search engines from indexing your pages
Search engines send out millions ofpieces ofcode called search engine spiders orbots toindex billions ofpages every day, aprocess called crawling.
These spiders will crawl every single page onyour site unless specifically told not to. dz have apage that lists all your protected files, thespider might crawl itaswell andmake itvisible insearch results.
You can stop spiders from crawling specific pages onyour site bycreating aRobots.txt file. This isasimple text document that regulates bot behavior. You have toplace itintheroot directory ofyour site.
Toblock access toafolder, add thefollowing code totheRobots.txt file:
Disallow:
Disallow:
This code basically instructs all bots (“user agents”) tonot index your folder.
3.Place Downloads Behind aLogin
One oftheeasiest ways todeter unauthorized access toyour products istoplace theproduct behind alogin.
This simply means that instead ofadownload link, thecustomer gets ausername andpassword
While this won’t stop apaying customer from copying anddistributing thefiles, itdoes offer afew benefits:
- Itmakes itharder forsomeone toaccess thefiles, which can deter pirates.
- Itmakes iteasy totrack downloads via usage logs andfigure out ifsomeone isstealing content.
- You can disable access tosuspicious customers remotely.
- Itprevents search engines from indexing thecontent.
There are plenty ofways toplace files behind alogin. Check out , , , , (free) and.
4.Limit Access toDownloads
How doyou prevent apaying customer from sharing his download link with others?
Simple: bylimiting access tothedownloads.
This isatried andtested technique tolimit downloads tolegitimate customers. Basically, this involves placing atime or
dz’re using 51Ƶ tosell your digital goods, you can easily limit access bygoing toSettings →Cart page →
Here, you can limit downloads by:
- Total number ofdownloads
Time-bound validity ofthedownload link.
For instance, you can keep thedownload limit to3. This means that thedownload link you send toacustomer upon payment will expire after 3downloads.
You can also set thedownload link toexpire after afixed amount oftime (say, 72hours). Ifthecustomer tries toaccess thedownload after this period, they’ll get anerror message.
This tactic works because itmakes sharing adownload link unfeasible. Customers who can only download aproduct 3times won’t feel motivated enough toshare this link with others.
You can further increase protection bychanging thenames offiles andfolders periodically. Once you’ve changed thenames, people who already have access tothedownload link won’t beable tofind thefiles (while legit customers can still access it).
dz’re taking this route, choose file names that are hard toguess, like y12xq.pdf instead ofھ.ڴ.
5.Create Product Licenses
Another tactic toprevent theft istocreate unique licenses foreach product copy. Toaccess theproduct, thecustomer has toenter thelicense key.
This ishow most software companies protect their products. dz’ve ever entered along alphanumeric key before installing asoftware, you’re already familiar with this concept.
Some ofthebenefits ofusing this tactic are:
- Strong protection: License keys can benotoriously hard tocrack. The quality ofprotection offered bythis technique can beclassified asstrong.
- Remote locking: Ifsomeone asks forarefund orengages insuspicious activity, you can disable thelicense. This would not only prevent future downloads but also invalidate anyexisting copy oftheproduct.
- Prevents redistribution: Pirates can’t rename thefile orcopy its contents since each copy istied toits own unique key.
- Prevent reprinting: Inthecase ofeBooks, you can use your licensing software todisable print functionality ortomake sure that thelicense gets printed along with therest ofthebook. This can prevent people from printing copies andredistributing them physically.
- Download monitoring: You can check whether someone has already downloaded andaccessed thefile using thelicense key. This can prevent people from claiming that they haven’t received thefile.
Creating product licenses can make accessing thefile harder forcustomers, but italso offers significantly advanced protection. This isatradeoff you’ll have toconsider making ifyou want better protection.
There are plenty ofways tocreate product licenses. dz’re using atool like InfusionSoft tocreate anddeliver products inthesales funnel, you can .
For other solutions, consider (for code), (for most files), Book Guard Pro (for PDFs), and (any file).
6.Monitor theWeb forStolen Products
Last, but not theleast, make sure that you keep aclose watch ontheweb foranystolen versions ofyour product. This way, you’ll atleast know ifsomeone isdistributing your products legally.
The easiest way todothis istocreate aGoogle Alert foryour product name. Just enter thename ofyour product andchange thesettings togive you anupdate anytime someone mentions your product.
Keep inmind that your product won’t always beredistributed under its original name. Make sure toadd possible variations such asalternative product names, your website name, your own name, etc. while monitoring.
dz’re publishing content online, you can also use todetect plagiarism andsend you automatic alerts forcontent theft.
What toDoinCase ofTheft
Even ifyou take all thepreventive measures above, you might still see your content stolen andredistributed online.
Ifthis happens, there are afew things you can dotoprotect yourself:
1.Contact theoffending site
Before you take thelegal route, it’s always agood idea tocontact thesite hosting your stolen contact andask them totake itdown. You’ll find that most sites will happily comply.
Start byfinding thesite’s contact information. Most websites will have acontact form. dz can’t find this information, get contact data from thesite’s WHOIS records. GotoaWHOIS tool like Who.is orWhois.sc, then enter thesite’s domain name.
You should see thedomain registrant’s email andphone number, like this (provided theregistration isn’t set toprivate):
Once you find theemail address, send anemail requesting removal.
Incase you can’t find thecontact information, orifthesite refuses tocomply, send aremoval request tothewebsite’s host. Goto andenter thesite’s domain name into thesearch box.
Intheright pane, you will see thename ofthehost.
Contact thehost andlet them know about thestolen content aswell astheproof showing that you are theowner. Most hosts will happily remove thecontent ifyou can offer sufficient proof.
2.Submit aDMCA Complaint
Aswementioned earlier, anycontent you create andpublish online isautomatically protected under DMCA. Inthecase oftheft, you can submit aDMCA complaint andget asite owner toremove theoffending complaint.
You will, ofcourse, have tofirst prove that you are theactual owner/creator ofthecontent. Creation logs, publishing dates, etc. come into thepicture here.
You can submit aDMCA complaint through DMCA.com. . Keep inmind that this isapaid service.
For afree alternative, use tocreate anew notice, then follow theinstructions
3.Take theLegal Route
Iftheabove two tactics fail, you will have totake thelegal route, such assending aCease &Desist notice through your lawyer oreven filing acase ofcopyright infringement.
Since thelegal option can belengthy andexpensive, itshould beyour last resort.
Wehighly recommend consulting alawyer ifyou are considering using this option.
Learn more: 25Places toFind
Conclusion
Content theft andpiracy can not only hurt your revenues but also your reputation. Anyone selling digital products should have thenecessary measures inplace toprevent theft.
What
Incase someone does manage tosteal your content, contact thesite’s host toremove thecontent. Ifthat doesn’t work, submit aDMCA takedown request.
What digital downloads doyou sell (or plan to) inyour store? Doyou have anyother digital product ideas?
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