Stolen Story

[zekuma]

Here in Japan, like the UK, Australia, and Berne Convention countries, copyright is automatic as soon as I put pen to paper, no registration necessary. I have had a few items copied and found that the complaints process undertaken via the regional subsidiary of Google, Amazon and the likes results in a quicker take down and request for counter-claim than the US site, but effected globally on their systems.
I have never tried to claim damages for literary works in the US which seems problematic. I have however had a settlement on business strategy papers that were adopted unpaid for in the US while under Japanese copyright, where pre trial it was confirmed that my rights to the works were not extinguished by a copy and paste in the US. Evidence of a Cease and Desist letter and notification of the rights being those of your own provided a date beyond which continued use would be in considered violation of that notice if a counter claim to rights is not successful by the the offending party.
Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of Australia, and various author bodies have a better pipeline into the process and act on behalf of their members, so it is oft worth having a membership for such assistance as well as demonstration of professional writing that might be of a value.
Good luck in asserting the claims. Yes they can pop up again in a week's time and you have to claim all over again, but that's the process. Flooding of copies in various places is possible but giving up is not the same as not having rights. The whole Facebook, YouTube claim of just being the message board and not responsible for content is under test. The new owners of Tumblr are certainly actively exploring that in their revamp of the business model to a more profitable paid model in the near future as can be seen in their decision to year zero all NSFW content on the servers. The claim of just a service didn't stand up in the face of illegal content.

 

[SyptemberSmyth]

Thank you to those who responded to my original post. I never intended for this thread to become an argument. I was only hoping someone who has experienced this before (because I know this is, sadly, a common issue) could give me some advice on the route they took and if it was effective. I have no intent to try and hunt down the person who stole the story or attempt to find a lawyer and sue them. I know doing either of those things is unrealistic and I don't have the time, energy or money for either of them. I am unconcerned about the possible $5-$10 they may have made off my story, though it doesn't appear they have made any money at all. As someone stated in their response to my original post, I posted my stories here for free and therefore have no right to claim they have monetary value to me now. I 100% agree with that statement. I write because it's an impulse and I post my stories here because I like to know there are others who can connect with the chaos in my head. But my stories are a part of me, each a piece of my soul, and it is hard to see a piece of myself twisted into something it was never meant to be with a price tag stuck on it. I understand there may not be anything I can do to have the story taken down, but I have to try.

 

[zekuma]

Thank you to those who responded to my original post. I never intended for this thread to become an argument. I was only hoping someone who has experienced this before (because I know this is, sadly, a common issue) could give me some advice on the route they took and if it was effective. I have no intent to try and hunt down the person who stole the story or attempt to find a lawyer and sue them. I know doing either of those things is unrealistic and I don't have the time, energy or money for either of them. I am unconcerned about the possible $5-$10 they may have made off my story, though it doesn't appear they have made any money at all. As someone stated in their response to my original post, I posted my stories here for free and therefore have no right to claim they have monetary value to me now. I 100% agree with that statement. I write because it's an impulse and I post my stories here because I like to know there are others who can connect with the chaos in my head. But my stories are a part of me, each a piece of my soul, and it is hard to see a piece of myself twisted into something it was never meant to be with a price tag stuck on it. I understand there may not be anything I can do to have the story taken down, but I have to try.

Posting something for free and not having any rights to it or future commercial value is a complete myth. Ask any author who puts an e-book on for free on kindle, I-tunes, etc if they are therefore giving up their rights to the works and that is not the case.
Just get onto Google and make a claim for the works.

 

[RejectReality]

One thing that can help in the endeavor is to research any other works the plagiarizer has posted. Find a reasonably unique line in the preview with no character names in it, early in the story.

Google search putting that line inside quote marks. That causes Google to search for only those words in that order. If they're stealing your stuff, all of their stuff is probably stolen. The search should turn up the original location.

Showing that the plagiarizer's body of work is lifted from multiple sites and multiple pen names will generate enough of a fishy smell to bolster your claim that they're a thief. Find contact information for the other authors who have been stolen from on the sites where their stories appear, and alert them to the thief as well.

Multiple claims further enhances the stench coming from the thief. The weight of that can be enough to get them removed from the platform.

You can't let yourself become obsessed with the endless game of whack-a-mole, but there's nothing wrong with trying to get a little satisfaction from taking down a jackass who is trying to profit from your work every once in a while.

 

[KeithD]

Posting something for free and not having any rights to it or future commercial value is a complete myth. Ask any author who puts an e-book on for free on kindle, I-tunes, etc if they are therefore giving up their rights to the works and that is not the case.
Just get onto Google and make a claim for the works.

That's irrelevant to any point being made. The only legal proof that you created it in U.S. law is if you hold a formal copyright on it. Anything else is unprovable he said/she said. The only meaningful capability of exercising your ownership in the United States is either whether you can take legal redress (in the United States you only can if you hold a formal copyright registration) or, as I noted up the line, sheer bluff.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The whole Facebook, YouTube claim of just being the message board and not responsible for content is under test. The new owners of Tumblr are certainly actively exploring that in their revamp of the business model to a more profitable paid model in the near future as can be seen in their decision to year zero all NSFW content on the servers. The claim of just a service didn't stand up in the face of illegal content.

Not sure what Tumblr has to do with this discussion. While there's a huge amount of copyright-violation material on there, I'm not aware of that having anything to do with the ban, which is based on the subject matter of images (as assessed by a not-very-good AI) and not on their copyright status or any other measure of "legality".

The Tumblr decision seems to have been driven more by the fact that Apple wouldn't let Tumblr sell their app in the Apple Store due to "adult content", which is not a copyright issue.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hi everyone, I found out today one of my stories has been stolen and published on Google books. The “author” is attempting to sell it under a new (and ridiculous) name but otherwise couldn’t be bothered to attempt to change anything else. Does anyone know what I need to do to have the book removed? I read through the post about stolen stories on Amazon but can’t find anything for Google. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Have you looked in this thread...it's a sticky at the top. Read the first post carefully.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1055555

I'm surprised no one else posted this to help you. All too busy arguing over what copyright is and how it works.

 

[KeithD]

Have you looked in this thread...it's a sticky at the top. Read the first post carefully.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1055555

I'm surprised no one else posted this to help you. All too busy arguing over what copyright is and how it works.

That crack was uncalled for. You posted to the board yesterday and didn't give any help then.

 

[oggbashan]

Have you looked in this thread...it's a sticky at the top. Read the first post carefully.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1055555

I'm surprised no one else posted this to help you. All too busy arguing over what copyright is and how it works.

The OP starting this thread showed that the sticky referred to had already been read, and didn't give the answer.

 

[Valint]

They are a thing that requires you to identify the real you. Who do you think you're fooling?

Okay, that one's a fair point.

I've been involved in copyright infringement lawsuits involving copying of articles posted for free on a website. That's not the absolute bar you seem to think it is; it's the reason for statutory damages exist, which generally get based more on how egregious the actions were than what the actual financial harm was.

However, you're right on the point that if you're looking to maintain anonymity or some sort of separation between your erotica author persona and your real life, any sort of legal filing (whether a lawsuit or a DMCA takedown notice) is going to be a problem.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

That crack was uncalled for. You posted to the board yesterday and didn't give any help then.

Somebody bumped their elbow on something sharp.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The OP starting this thread showed that the sticky referred to had already been read, and didn't give the answer.

I read that post twice. I must have skipped over that. Sure it did, but he got all kinds of confusing cross argues about copyright instead of help.

DMCA is the only way to get the story pulled from Amazon. That post explains that.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Okay, that one's a fair point.

I've been involved in copyright infringement lawsuits involving copying of articles posted for free on a website. That's not the absolute bar you seem to think it is; it's the reason for statutory damages exist, which generally get based more on how egregious the actions were than what the actual financial harm was.

However, you're right on the point that if you're looking to maintain anonymity or some sort of separation between your erotica author persona and your real life, any sort of legal filing (whether a lawsuit or a DMCA takedown notice) is going to be a problem.

I've done DMCA several times, so far no one has figured our who, what, where, etc. The sites don't make the DMCA's public.