Take down squad / buddy system

KindofHere said:

Why do you keep taking my jokes seriously? Don't answer.

Click to expand...

Why wouldn't I answer? I try to be helpful even if I know people don't want my help.

Enjoy the freebies. I do. I can see almost anything I want without giving my credit card details or identity.

My Google record would worry an employer but I'm long retired and a Dirty Old Man.

oggbashan said:

Why wouldn't I answer? I try to be helpful even if I know people don't want my help.

Enjoy the freebies. I do. I can see almost anything I want without giving my credit card details or identity.

My Google record would worry an employer but I'm long retired and a Dirty Old Man.

Click to expand...

PS. More seriously, some people still believe that they can stop others from stealing the stories posted on Literotica. Even my wife, children and grandchildren know that anything they put on line in public (or even private) is fair game for any asshole.

...............

KindofHere said:

Have you tried showering? ... drum roll, snare .... goodnight ladies and gentlemen.

Click to expand...

Showers don't work on the brain.

oggbashan said:

PS. More seriously, some people still believe that they can stop others from stealing the stories posted on Literotica. Even my wife, children and grandchildren know that anything they put on line in public (or even private) is fair game for any asshole.

Click to expand...

Pretty much. I don't even worry about it. Once its online, its online and its there where anyone can lay their sticky paws on it. You don't want it copied, dont put it online. Heck, look at all the books that get plagiarized.

Here's another site with numerous Literotica stories lifted. http://wellsexstories.com

I've just learned that one of my stories has also been stolen and published on ASSTR

The problem keeps popping up. Maybe if we make enough noise, we can get Lit to assist.

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?p=83812485

-MM

Asstr

We are pleased to report that ALL of our stories (and many other authors here) were finally taken down from ASSTR.
The user's files ashrith have been removed.

Maybe persistence has been rewarded.

-MM

Win some lose some.

Found another site that appears to have lifted nearly every story from Literotica.
Free Erotic Stories

We PM'd Laurel that they even list literotica in the top lines of their web page... No idea if they're doing it with permission. However, they appear to leave off the Copyright unless it was included within the text of the story.

Here's their contact page.

We're definitely submitting stories with full copyright included from now on.
-MM

MindsMirror said:

We are pleased to report that ALL of our stories (and many other authors here) were finally taken down from ASSTR.
The user's files ashrith have been removed.

Maybe persistence has been rewarded.

-MM

Click to expand...

Lucky you.

My story (posted by "Ken") is still there.

Haulover said:

Lucky you.

My story (posted by "Ken") is still there.

Click to expand...

Actually that user Ken has stories from lots of people here.

Each author probably needs to send notices to copyright@asstr.org. If enough do, it may eventually work.

We contacted authors for stories we could find on Lit the following:

We thought you would like to know that we found a user http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/ken at ASSTR had posted copies of your stories.

You should send a take down notice to copyright@asstr.org. Another user there stole stories from several people on Lit including us. Eventually, they were taken down. So perhaps a show of strength and persistence will give us more impact.

-MindsMirror

Click to expand...

-MM

Actions Taken

Weird that my first post on LIT forums is about copyright infringement. Thanks to MindsMirror, I found out four of my stories had been stolen.

The person making the comment that copyrights need to be registered is wrong.

According to the U.S. Copyright Office "Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created
in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright." The use of the (C) or other copyright notice is not required, although LIT automatically generates one.

In my case, for whatever good it will do, I sent the following email to ASSTR.org:

"To Whom It May Concern:

I am the legal copyright owner of four stories stolen by one of your users (user name Ken) and posted on your site.
The stories are under:
http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/ken
and are:
The Retreat Day 01.txt
The Retreat Day 02.txt
The Retreat Day 03.txt
The Retreat Day 04 and on.txt

I insist that they be removed at once and that this email address be notified when you have done so.
I also request any and all identifying information regarding the actual identification of user "Ken" so that legal action may be taken.
Or, provide me with the name and address of the person in your organization to whom the subpoena should be delivered.

Additionally, I request that the user "Ken" be banned from your site and all his stories removed, since he is a thief.
He has removed any identification of the original author, the copyright, and has posted them without my permission.

For your information, they were first, and only, posted on Literotica.com under the pseudonym "eidetic" between 11/11/16 and 11/14/16.

Thank you for your cooperation in stopping criminal copyright infringement."

It remains to be seen whether it will do any good.
Cheers,
eidetic

oggbashan said:

Best of luck with that. Unless you have registered (and paid) for your copyright in the US your lawyer has nothing to act upon.

Click to expand...

eidetic said:

The person making the comment that copyrights need to be registered is wrong.

Click to expand...

No, he's not. You can indeed get a copyright without registering, but that copyright is pretty much worthless because without registration it can't be enforced.

If you try to sue somebody for violating an unregistered copyright, the courts will point you at 17 U.S. Code S 411 and 412:

Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of subsection (b),[1] no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.

...

In any action under this title, other than an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a), an action for infringement of the copyright of a work that has been preregistered under section 408(f) before the commencement of the infringement and that has an effective date of registration not later than the earlier of 3 months after the first publication of the work or 1 month after the copyright owner has learned of the infringement, or an action instituted under section 411(c), no award of statutory damages or of attorney’s fees, as provided by sections 504 and 505, shall be made for—
(1) any infringement of copyright in an unpublished work commenced before the effective date of its registration; or
(2) any infringement of copyright commenced after first publication of the work and before the effective date of its registration, unless such registration is made within three months after the first publication of the work.

Click to expand...

MindsMirror said:

We are pleased to report that ALL of our stories (and many other authors here) were finally taken down from ASSTR.
The user's files ashrith have been removed.

Maybe persistence has been rewarded.

-MM

Click to expand...

Fantastic! If it was due to your persistence, then thank you very much.

We aren't taking credit for our persistence...

We think it was the number of people we informed who then followed through with a request.

That's why we created this thread. So people could help each other get copied material taken down.

We appreciate everyone who took the time to follow up and encourage others to notify authors if they find similar instances.
-MM

MindsMirror said:

We're definitely submitting stories with full copyright included from now on.
-MM

Click to expand...

A good habit to acquire, I think, but where is the 'home' of the holder.
We in the UK can put a statement, as authors of the work:-

"Handley_Page asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988."

Not that this means much in the USA, where, I'm told, such statements raise a bit of a smile and not a lot else.

eidetic said:

...
In my case, for whatever good it will do, I sent the following email to ASSTR.org:
...

Click to expand...

What email address(es) did you send it to?


Thanks!

Haulover said:

What email address(es) did you send it to?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

You should send a take down notice to copyright@asstr.org and mention the user http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/ken.

-MM

MindsMirror said:

You should send a take down notice to copyright@asstr.org and mention the user http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/ken.

-MM

Click to expand...

Thanks. I emailed them over a week ago - no reaction.

But I'll try again...

I have a lot in ASSTR. Much can't be used in Lit, but I do edit my own stuff from there if it's easily done and they are now in Lit.
I have asked ASSTR if they will change one of my works, wrongly posted as a PND, PMS or PD- -whatever to a .doc but had no reply or action, so I guess they're out.
S'funny how ASSTR can be freely talked about in here yet I was rejected as I used ASSTR in the heading for a work.

I wonder what Laurel will do when someone comes along and steals the entire contents of her site - or at least big chunks of it, not just a few hundred or a few thousand here and there.

ishtat said:

I wonder what Laurel will do when someone comes along and steals the entire contents of her site - or at least big chunks of it, not just a few hundred or a few thousand here and there.

Click to expand...

Not really a lot she can do when you get into it. You can send out notices and emails but if they're ignored there's not a lot you can do. You can go the legal route but that costs. That's okay if you're big with lots of money but for a little site like LIT, its not too feasible. I'd guess Laurel knows that and just ignores it. It'd be hard enough in the US, go outside and it gets downright impossible. Grin and put up with it.

It's a shame, but that's the way it is.

Look at Wattpad and how they approach this issue and it's much the same. They police their own website and point you to how to request a takedown from another website. They won't do anything themselves. And if they, with their size and funding, won't, I don't think its reasonable to expect LIT to be doing anything beyond what they are doing.

What would be nice is if LIT updated their website content to make it as clear as Wattpad's is. Not rocket science. These are static web pages. Spend a couple of days over a weekend writing this up and voila, done. Heck, I could do this. That's what annoys me and here, I agree 100% with Lovecraft. LIT hasn't done anything about the look, feel and content for years as far as I can see and a lot of you would know this coz you've been here waaaaay longer than me.

All I say is, look at Wattpad. That's what a website like this should be like. End of.

ishtat said:

I wonder what Laurel will do when someone comes along and steals the entire contents of her site - or at least big chunks of it, not just a few hundred or a few thousand here and there.

Click to expand...

As we reported above someone has and we PM'd Laurel about it:

MindsMirror said:

Found another site that appears to have lifted nearly every story from Literotica.
Free Erotic Stories

Click to expand...

Laurel PM'd us back that

This is a known spammer/copyright thief. They appear to be out of the legal jurisdiction of the West.

Click to expand...

WHOIS shows their domain to be listed in the US although through a foreign company.

-MM

No matter what or where you post on the internet someone will steal it. Just started posting my stories here and I received a comment that one of my stories was already posted here under another name and asking if I stole it. Have contacted management here and hopefully will be resolved but now I'm going to have to start checking to see if other stories of mine are already posted here by damn plagiarizing thieves.