Manu
Just A Test Title OK
- Joined
- Aug 24, 1999
- Posts
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Recently, several Lit authors have contacted us with concerns about nefarious "publishers" at Amazon.com. These "publishers" steal writing/photos from around the web and publish it on Amazon.com in ebook form. Their goal is simple - to exploit the hard work of others for their own financial gain.
A quick Google search shows that this has been an issue for as long as Amazon has allowed independent ebook publishing. In many cases, it appears that the stolen ebooks are actually purchased from Amazon, and then repackaged for sale back on Amazon by the thief.
This is not a problem exclusive to adult authors. In fact, most of the blog posts and articles that we found about this issue involve stolen mainstream articles and ebooks. It's likely that the thieves don't care at all what kind of content they are stealing. They just want to make money as easily as possible.
Like Amazon, we have had people submit stolen stories to Literotica several times over the years. Our policy on copyright is very clear, and we respond to all copyright complaints. Any author found to be copying/stealing stories will have all of their stories removed from Literotica and their account banned.
Amazon also claims to have a strict copyright policy, but they are quite a bit harder to deal with than Literotica. From the research that we've been doing, it looks like Amazon has a system of "copyright strikes". Amazon keeps a record of how many DMCA complains each author/publisher account has received. If an account reaches a certain number of DMCA complaints (strikes), the account will be banned and the author/publisher will not be paid for any unpaid earnings.
In addition, any Amazon accounts (past, present, and future) associated with that banned account will be banned as well. Once banned, it becomes increasingly difficult for that thief to sign up for new Amazon accounts.
If you want to have stolen ebooks removed from the Amazon.com marketplace, the simple way to do it is to file multiple DMCA complaints. This creates multiple copyright strikes against the offending account. Any Amazon author/publisher who gets a certain number of DMCA complaints (not sure the exact number) will be banned from Amazon. The more times a thief gets banned, the harder it becomes to continue making money on stolen ebooks.
DMCA complaints are the only type of action that counts as a copyright strike. Amazon does not apply strikes based on random customer complaints, comment board complaints, etc. DMCA is the only type of complaint that Amazon recognizes.
It is very important that authors file DMCA notices against any stolen eBook that they find in the Amazon.com market. If you recognize ebooks by your friends or other authors, notify them and ask them to file a DMCA complaint.
Amazon's DMCA/Copyright Agent information is as follows:
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Phone: (206) 266-4064
Fax: (206) 266-7010
E-mail: copyright@amazon.com
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?topicID=200626000
If you need help filing a DMCA notice, it's very simple and there are many websites offering free DMCA templates:
http://support.scribd.com/entries/2...ingement-takedown-notification-email-template
https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=379199
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/07/06/sample-dmca-take-down-letter/id=4501/
http://sarafhawkins.com/how-to-file-a-dmca-takedown-notice/
http://www.epicorg.com/sample-dmca-take-down-notice.html
Though this post relates directly to Amazon, a DMCA notice can be used to have writing/photos/video removed from any website which is publishing your work without your permission. DMCA notices are a simple yet powerful tool that every author should be aware of.
In the future, we plan to add a special section to Literotica.com to help better inform authors about copyright issues and DMCA. If you have any suggestions for information or tools you would like to see, please let us know.
Thank you to everyone who has contacted us about these issues and we'll continue - as we always have - working with Lit authors to fight against anyone who tries to infringe on your work!
A quick Google search shows that this has been an issue for as long as Amazon has allowed independent ebook publishing. In many cases, it appears that the stolen ebooks are actually purchased from Amazon, and then repackaged for sale back on Amazon by the thief.
This is not a problem exclusive to adult authors. In fact, most of the blog posts and articles that we found about this issue involve stolen mainstream articles and ebooks. It's likely that the thieves don't care at all what kind of content they are stealing. They just want to make money as easily as possible.
Like Amazon, we have had people submit stolen stories to Literotica several times over the years. Our policy on copyright is very clear, and we respond to all copyright complaints. Any author found to be copying/stealing stories will have all of their stories removed from Literotica and their account banned.
Amazon also claims to have a strict copyright policy, but they are quite a bit harder to deal with than Literotica. From the research that we've been doing, it looks like Amazon has a system of "copyright strikes". Amazon keeps a record of how many DMCA complains each author/publisher account has received. If an account reaches a certain number of DMCA complaints (strikes), the account will be banned and the author/publisher will not be paid for any unpaid earnings.
In addition, any Amazon accounts (past, present, and future) associated with that banned account will be banned as well. Once banned, it becomes increasingly difficult for that thief to sign up for new Amazon accounts.
If you want to have stolen ebooks removed from the Amazon.com marketplace, the simple way to do it is to file multiple DMCA complaints. This creates multiple copyright strikes against the offending account. Any Amazon author/publisher who gets a certain number of DMCA complaints (not sure the exact number) will be banned from Amazon. The more times a thief gets banned, the harder it becomes to continue making money on stolen ebooks.
DMCA complaints are the only type of action that counts as a copyright strike. Amazon does not apply strikes based on random customer complaints, comment board complaints, etc. DMCA is the only type of complaint that Amazon recognizes.
It is very important that authors file DMCA notices against any stolen eBook that they find in the Amazon.com market. If you recognize ebooks by your friends or other authors, notify them and ask them to file a DMCA complaint.
Amazon's DMCA/Copyright Agent information is as follows:
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Phone: (206) 266-4064
Fax: (206) 266-7010
E-mail: copyright@amazon.com
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/help?topicID=200626000
If you need help filing a DMCA notice, it's very simple and there are many websites offering free DMCA templates:
http://support.scribd.com/entries/2...ingement-takedown-notification-email-template
https://kdp.amazon.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=379199
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/07/06/sample-dmca-take-down-letter/id=4501/
http://sarafhawkins.com/how-to-file-a-dmca-takedown-notice/
http://www.epicorg.com/sample-dmca-take-down-notice.html
Though this post relates directly to Amazon, a DMCA notice can be used to have writing/photos/video removed from any website which is publishing your work without your permission. DMCA notices are a simple yet powerful tool that every author should be aware of.
In the future, we plan to add a special section to Literotica.com to help better inform authors about copyright issues and DMCA. If you have any suggestions for information or tools you would like to see, please let us know.
Thank you to everyone who has contacted us about these issues and we'll continue - as we always have - working with Lit authors to fight against anyone who tries to infringe on your work!