Blatant copying

[bambigirl44]

Don't get me wrong I actually find it a compliment if someone wants to re-post my story elsewhere, as long as the give credit. I don't write for any reason other than the pleasure it gives me, the bonus comes when I hear responses from people who enjoy my stories too.

However I wrote a story some time ago called "A foreign exchange at Christmas" and yesterday I browse the net and see what I find...

http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Exchange-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004BSH0YQ

Anyone else suffered the same fate?

 

[PennLady]

Don't get me wrong I actually find it a compliment if someone wants to re-post my story elsewhere, as long as the give credit. I don't write for any reason other than the pleasure it gives me, the bonus comes when I hear responses from people who enjoy my stories too.

However I wrote a story some time ago called "A foreign exchange at Christmas" and yesterday I browse the net and see what I find...

http://www.amazon.com/Foreign-Exchange-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004BSH0YQ

Anyone else suffered the same fate?

Not personally, but I have seen on Amazon other stories -- mostly incest or BDSM -- that have been plagiarized. Officially filing for copyright is probably your only protection.

 

[3113]

PM Laura

PM Laura immediately. She cracks down on these sorts of things. Let her know about it, maybe she can get them to take it down.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

US copyright law is very weak compared with most of the western world. In UK all you have to do is assert your copyright right (as Og does) and that's legal armor. European law is similar.

I don't want to get into the copyright legalities of a Brit author publishing on a US internet site but thoughts of 'snowballs in hell' come to mind to consider a Brit writer having legal copyright in the US over stories published on Lit.

In the US, in overly simpistic terms,unless you go through the admin and pay the fee, I don't think you have any protection - especially if you haven't suffered a financial loss.

US copyright protection is the most apalling in the G7. It needs urgent reform to embrace the internet era.

Bambigirl, I understand your indignation and frustration but what these guys do is about the same as Lit tolerates with scouries' offensive use of hotlinking. Using other people's creative work without credit or royalty is morally unforgivable but legal.

 

[oggbashan]

US copyright law is very weak compared with most of the western world. In UK all you have to do is assert your copyright right (as Og does) and that's legal armor. European law is similar.

I don't want to get into the copyright legalities of a Brit author publishing on a US internet site but thoughts of 'snowballs in hell' come to mind to consider a Brit writer having legal copyright in the US over stories published on Lit.

...

I put my copyright message on my stories, and yes, in theory that protects me under UK and European law, and in all countries that have implemented the convention on copyright.

That does not include the US, nor Russia and China.

However, if someone infringes my copyright I have little redress unless I'm prepared to spend large sums of money on expensive lawyers, and those who steal my stories generally don't have any money to repay my legal costs, let alone pay compensation.

The joke is that the easiest way to search for my stolen stories is to search for 'copyright oggbashan'...

 

[estragon]

We had a lengthy discussion on this point some time ago. Someone calling him/herself Elizabeth Summers had hijacked Grandmaster Sir_Nathan's brilliant story "Culture_Shock" and posted it on Amazon for pay. I posted a review to the story proclaiming the theft. I also notified Grandmaster Sir_Nathan, but he decided there was nothing he could do, apparently because of the requirement to file and pay in the USA to achieve protection.

I even wrote a "Humor & Satire" story called "The Sting", about a Chinese Super-Hacker who funded her taste for Trockenbeerenauslesen and Marlboro Green by stealing stories from Literotica, flogging them on Amazon, and using hacked credit card info to buy her stolen stories to generate more ill-gotten gains. Art imitating life again.

 

[sr71plt]

What you neglect to post is whether or not the pirated book is still for sale on Amazon.

Elfin has given the relevant guidance for U.S. authors.

 

[beatrice_dreams]

So many questions...

So what happens if someone steals your story and sells it on amazon, then you do a bit of a rewrite (because you're the author and can actually write, unlike the no-good low-down thief) and you put your own version up on amazon?

If you can prove that you posted it somewhere else first would that keep the thief from claiming that you stole their story?

And what if they file for copyright protection before you get to it?


All this assuming that anyone would bother to steal my stuff - lol!

 

[sr71plt]

So what happens if someone steals your story and sells it on amazon, then you do a bit of a rewrite (because you're the author and can actually write, unlike the no-good low-down thief) and you put your own version up on amazon?

If you can prove that you posted it somewhere else first would that keep the thief from claiming that you stole their story?

And what if they file for copyright protection before you get to it?


All this assuming that anyone would bother to steal my stuff - lol!

You'd have to wrangle with Amazon, which would have no way of knowing who it really belonged to--and would likely cut them both.

Yes, if the thief filed for a formal copyright before you did, they would be given a formal copyright. Again, the Copyright Office has no idea who really wrote it first and no interest at all in investigating it.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is the risk we take. And it is amazing it does not happen more often. I posted this a few months back but will do it again.

A friend sent me an e-mail months ago and said 'look at this' I clicked the link and it was to an e-book on smashwords. I read the blurb and the free download of the first third of it,

One of my lit stories, but with the characters names changed and a different title, there were a couple of other tiny difference-girl had red hair not black- but my story.

I'm ripshit then he tells me that he did it. He lifted the story made minor changes that took him all of twenty minutes and made it that much harder to prove it was mine. Bought a $2 stock photo cover and made $20 on it during the week he left it there. He pulled the book and gave me the money but more than proved his point

With a little bit of industry Literotica is one huge shopping cart. How many people have stories up here from 5 years ago that have never come back?

These are up for grabs and although most just lift it and even stupidly use the same title. What my friend did would be virtually undetectable unless you happened to buy the damn thing yourself.

If you don't want it stolen the only definitive answer is do not put it on a site like this.

 

[Handley_Page]

Obviously, the USA has its own quaint view on Copyright (it always has had), but it should be fairly obvious that if you submit a story to Lit and the date of its submission is BEFORE that Amazon thing, you have proof that it ain't the other author's work.

That said, plagiarism is an American past time. It's hardly worth protesting about until the US government actually DOES something about signing up to the International Convention.

 

[oggbashan]

...

With a little bit of industry Literotica is one huge shopping cart. How many people have stories up here from 5 years ago that have never come back?

These are up for grabs and although most just lift it and even stupidly use the same title. What my friend did would be virtually undetectable unless you happened to buy the damn thing yourself.

If you don't want it stolen the only definitive answer is do not put it on a site like this.

As I posted above, some of those who steal my stories even leave my copyright notice on them.

 

[sr71plt]

Obviously, the USA has its own quaint view on Copyright (it always has had), but it should be fairly obvious that if you submit a story to Lit and the date of its submission is BEFORE that Amazon thing, you have proof that it ain't the other author's work.

No legal entity would accept that as "proof" of who wrote it first, no. The United States makes it very difficult to take copyright issues to court--explicitly because it doesn't want its courts tied up in wrangles over who really wrote it first. Posting it someplace first isn't proof of who actually wrote it.

 

[Handley_Page]

No legal entity would accept that as "proof" of who wrote it first, no. The United States makes it very difficult to take copyright issues to court--explicitly because it doesn't want its courts tied up in wrangles over who really wrote it first. Posting it someplace first isn't proof of who actually wrote it.

you have proof that it ain't the other author's work. ??

 

[kitkat88]

you have proof that it ain't the other author's work. ??

I had an article that I posted on my web site lifted and put into a magazine under some one elses name. Now the thing was on my web site and dated months before the magazine came out. I was pretty much told the only way to fight it would take a lot of what most people don't have, time and money.

It's not worth it and the assholes who steal people's work bank on that. I have seen threads here that say that lit has gone in and forced the books to be pulled, but the creep keeps the money, creates another 'author name' and goes back to fishing.

 

[sr71plt]

you have proof that it ain't the other author's work. ??

Sorry, I don't understand what you're asking.

U.S. courts are only turned on in a copyright suit by producing of a formal copyright document. And they do nothing to make a judgment on who did what with the work before that. They simply aren't going to get bogged down in she said/she said.

The only "proof" recognized by a U.S. court is a formal copyright registration. (And there could be more than one of those, in which case they'd go with the earliest date).

Shall I try to find a third way to describe reality?

 

[estragon]

What you neglect to post is whether or not the pirated book is still for sale on Amazon.

Elfin has given the relevant guidance for U.S. authors.

Indeed, Elfin is correct, as we all agree. As to whether or not the pirated work of Sir_Nathan's is still for sale on Amazon, no I haven't checked, as I wasn't asked. I received no feedback from Amazon or anyone else, and as Sir_Nathan apparently has elected not to pursue the matter, I have not, either. I merely wanted to warn people that they were receiving stolen property if they bought his book from Summers the thief.

 

[bambigirl44]

Thanks guys

Thanks for all the replies. As I say I don't write any of my stories for any reason other than pleasure. My "An Opportunity Not To Be Missed" series is all over the internet, even in comic book form and I really don't mind, I just wish credit were given where it's due, although to be fair most do give it.

I think I was just angry when I saw it and thought, what a bloody cheek! Somebody is actually making money out of my work!

I am aware there is nothing I can really do about it, especially as absolutely nobody in my life knows I write these stories and so I will always want to remain anonymous. (Don't really want family and friends knowing where my imagination takes me). I think I just needed to let off steam and tell somebody.

I agree that if I want my stories to remain safe from being copied then the only way is to probably not put them on the site in the first place, but I don't want to do that, so I will just have to accept that these things happen.......but it does piss me off!

 

[estragon]

Indeed, Elfin is correct, as we all agree. As to whether or not the pirated work of Sir_Nathan's is still for sale on Amazon, no I haven't checked, as I wasn't asked. I received no feedback from Amazon or anyone else, and as Sir_Nathan apparently has elected not to pursue the matter, I have not, either. I merely wanted to warn people that they were receiving stolen property if they bought his book from Summers the thief.

I stand corrected. My curiosity was piqued as I re-read this thread, and I searched Amazon. I found Culture Shock, published by Sir Nathan. I am glad he has claimed his work, as it is excellent.

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[Handley_Page]

Sorry, I don't understand what you're asking.

U.S. courts are only turned on in a copyright suit by producing of a formal copyright document. And they do nothing to make a judgment on who did what with the work before that. They simply aren't going to get bogged down in she said/she said.

The only "proof" recognized by a U.S. court is a formal copyright registration. (And there could be more than one of those, in which case they'd go with the earliest date).

Shall I try to find a third way to describe reality?

Sorry, I should not have added the question marks.
It just strikes me that if an author can show that his/her work was published elsewhere at a date prior to the "blatant theft", he or she should have a case.
Your information about US courts, however, reminds me that the US is no place for an author to imagine they have sole rights to their work.

 

[sr71plt]

Shouida/coulda doesn't cut it in U.S. courts. They don't want the hassle of she said/she said--most certainly over something like erotica. So, despite the lipservice to the Berne Convention, they have set one in-concrete requirement for going to court on a copyright case. The one taking suit has to have a formal U.S. copyright registration in hand before getting a court date. Anything beyond that is just wasted breath shoulda/coulda.

 

[oggbashan]

Sorry, I should not have added the question marks.
It just strikes me that if an author can show that his/her work was published elsewhere at a date prior to the "blatant theft", he or she should have a case.
Your information about US courts, however, reminds me that the US is no place for an author to imagine they have sole rights to their work.

Even though I am resident in the UK, and assert my copyright under the Berne Convention, because I post my stories on Literotica which is based in the US - I have NO protection at all in the US.

If I were to register my copyright in the US which is difficult for a UK resident to do, I would still have no effective protection unless:

1. I can prove a financial loss - impossible because Lit is free, and

2. I have enough money to employ a lawyer to sue in the US.

 

[estragon]

Once again, take a look at Title 17, United States Code, Sections 106(A) (visual works only) and 411 (everything else). Registration (or preregistration) is a condition for bringing an infringement action in the USA.

Apparently US copyright law goes back to the Old West--if I find your unbranded cow wandering around in the sagebrush and I brand it, it's mine. Y'all should have branded it your own self. Yeehaw!

 

[D_Lynn]

The only "proof" recognized by a U.S. court is a formal copyright registration. (And there could be more than one of those, in which case they'd go with the earliest date).

This may be true on paper, however, in practice it is not true. Screen writers will print their script, seal it in an envelope, and mail it to themselves. They do not open the envelope, they just tuck it away for proof. The courts have accepted (in the past) the U.S. postmark as proof of when the copy was written by the person.

Lots of stealing going on in Hollywood. Go figure.

Now, I recognize that this will not prevent stealing from occurring. It will only provide the means for proving you wrote it first if you don't have it copyrighted, or if there are multiple copyrights of the same work.