Getting your work stolen

[Melyssaha]

I found out recently that someone stole over 20 stories from me and published them as their own on Amazon. I already filed a copyright infringement with Amazon, so hopefully it will get taken care of soon.

Has anyone else gone through this? Does Amazon give you your rightful royalties or (providing its worth it) do I need to get a copyright lawyer involved?

I also figured out that the person took the stories from literotica based on what they took and not my personal site or any others that I post on. Does anyone know if Literotica helps with these cases or are we on our own?

That is horrible! On the other hand...your writing must be very good! I will check out your stories.

 

[oggbashan]

That is horrible! On the other hand...your writing must be very good! I will check out your stories.

Possibly. But some of my stolen stories are ones I am ashamed of...

 

[MillieDynamite]

edited as I already put this up!

 

[dmallord]

I, too, have been ripped off!

I had a lazy day and took a short cut to see if I could login to Lit using my user name only in the URL window.

Surprise! The first thing on the list to show up were seven of my stories, including tags, on a site called 18book*****.

You might want to check this site for your works, also.

New to publishing, I've never posted anything outside of this site. So it was a WTF moment!

I continued on to Lit and once logged in I searched Lit's FAQ and filled out an email form there about copyright violation. Hope someone reads it and provides some help.

Then searched the forum to see if this happened to anyone else. I'm sorry to see so many of you have the same experience(s). In my naïveté, I thought Lit copyrights the stuff so this would not be happening. Who knew people would steal my writings? It's not like I left my ladder standing against my front eaves and it was gone when I came back outside after lunch!

After reading dozens of your posts - that seems as if little help is forthcoming. Sorry to see that.

 

[KeithD]

At a U.S. Copyright Office fee of $45 per pop, I wouldn't be expecting Literotica to be filing for formal U.S. copyright for any of the stories they are posting here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I continued on to Lit and once logged in I searched Lit's FAQ and filled out an email form there about copyright violation. Hope someone reads it and provides some help.

Lit provides a platform, but does not provide a copyright protection service. You own the copyright, so if you think this is worth pursuing with the other platform (which it isn't) it's down to you.

I wouldn't fret - it happens all the time to all of us, but I very much doubt these other jokers are making a brass razzoo out of the stolen content. Don't waste your energy - just write the next story for someone to steal.

 

[dmallord]

Expanded Note on Being Ripped Off

Lit provides a platform, but does not provide a copyright protection service. You own the copyright, so if you think this is worth pursuing with the other platform (which it isn't) it's down to you.

I wouldn't fret - it happens all the time to all of us, but I very much doubt these other jokers are making a brass razzoo out of the stolen content. Don't waste your energy - just write the next story for someone to steal.

---
I did a bit more URL searching ... my stuff is all over the place! Russia, Scandinavia, among them and who knows where else. I lost track of trying to locate them. You would have to be a Internet forensic guru to track all that stuff down I suppose.

I've turned the burner off under my teakettle - I'm not as steamed as I was yesterday. With over 257,000 views on Lit so far in the last year, I guess I should have suspected this might happen. 'Live and Learn' 'Forgive and Forget' - Thanks for replying to this rant! Hopefully, no one is making money off my work That would turn my burner on again if I learned about that!

Writing is that cathartic release I need in my life right now. So, I will continue to submit stories here - for someone to steal as you mirthfully remarked.

 

[desecration]

It use to be, and a lot people believe it is, but if you are in the USA, any work that you create and make public, published, art on display, video, etc. nowadays under our copyright law you own the copyright automatically. It does not have to be registered.

This is my understanding. However, your options are basically limited to getting the content removed with a DMCA; Amazon will probably do it if you include the Literotica links. There aren't going to be royalties paid to you, although the account holder posting the stolen story may find that Amazon takes the money back if they can.

 

[MillieDynamite]

This is my understanding. However, your options are basically limited to getting the content removed with a DMCA; Amazon will probably do it if you include the Literotica links. There aren't going to be royalties paid to you, although the account holder posting the stolen story may find that Amazon takes the money back if they can.

I can tell you this is true. When my work appeared on Amazon with my name and the person who stole the work as co-author, I got not one dime but all the other writers work disappeared, which was also stolen.

I'm sure the person reappeared with a new penname and newly stolen works!

 

[StrangeLife]

I've had the opposite happen - some random dude complained to Laurel that one of my stories on Lit was plagiarized from something he sold on Amazon. No idea who he was or what his story was about.

I couldn't be bothered to make a case out of it - it was an old story that was quite bad and poorly rated - so I just let it go and took it down. But if his story is anything like mine, the guy must suck really bad...

 

[Nonsense01]

I just saw one of my stories copied onto another website without credit to me (my made up name on here) or Literotica.
That didn't annoy me

It was a two page story (chapter)....they only copied the first page!!!

lol!!!hahahaha

 

[oggbashan]

I just saw one of my stories copied onto another website without credit to me (my made up name on here) or Literotica.
That didn't annoy me

It was a two page story (chapter)....they only copied the first page!!!

lol!!!hahahaha

That has happened many times to me on SE Asian sites. they just want content to attract users to their malware - so they take page one only.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I've found a few of my stories on other websites. I emailed the people who posted them and told them to take them down, and thankfully they did. I know even big name authors are often plagiarized. A few authors were suing one phony writer who just pieced together their stories and sold them Amazon.