Copyscape has just launched a service which it claims will scour the web to locate potential copiers of your site’s content. Combine that evidence (if copying is found) with proper registration and we just might see an increase in copyright infringement suits. Of course, the service is not perfect. I tried it for the Chicago IP Litigation Blog and it returned one result, suggesting that Dennis Crouch at Patently-O had copied me. In fact, Dennis’s post was highlighting a new blog. Two days after Dennis’s post, I also highlighted the new blog (here) and mentioned Dennis. So, if one of us was copying the other, it was me copying Dennis. Of course, I did not plagiarize Dennis, we each did short posts identifying a new blog using similar language and it was exactly the kind of cross-posting blogs thrive on.
Try it for your sites and let me know how it works for you.