Plagiarism Checking

[Lifestyle66]

Think again: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/the-ah-coffee-shop-and-reading-room-09.1574612/post-101929505

But "which is it?" was the final thought in that post.

The single word "Xerox" was a copyrighted trademark of the Xerox corporation, until a court ruled that it had become synonymous with "a machine copy of a document", and the Xerox company could no longer claim exclusive use of that name when others used it in that context.

So, many words or phrases are used so commonly that no one author can claim them as their own.

EDIT: In my last story, I wrote the sentence: "It's little wonder most of the area residents driving along the two-lane road passed the bar without stopping."

Does that mean I own that combination of words, and no one else can use it without plagiarizing MY story?

 

[alohadave]

I found this interesting. My husband told me that map makers put one fake town on every map, so they can tell if someone copies it, but I was skeptical.

What is a Mountweazel?

In the map world, they are called Trap Streets and Paper Towns.

 

[SimonDoom]

Think again: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/the-ah-coffee-shop-and-reading-room-09.1574612/post-101929505

That's trademark, not copyright. That's something completely different. Apple has a registered trademark in its name when used in connection with the sale of computers and related technology. That doesn't mean it has a monopoly on the use of the word "apple." It doesn't mean you have to be in any way concerned about using the word "apple" in your stories.

 

[Rob_Royale]

It's not something I worry about at all. Anything I use consciously is acknowledged in my author's notes, like using a weird version of the cast from Gilligan's Island, in Boldly Cumming. Anything I use unconsciously would be up to the wronged party to prove I did so with the intent to profit from their product.

 

[Djmac1031]

I "borrow" movie lines all the time. Ive also "borrowed" elements from novels I've read etc.

Ive lost count of how many times I've had characters quote Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings.

There's a big difference between quoting a line or two and copying an entire scene and claiming it as your own of course.

I always put acknowledgements at the end if I feel its warranted.

Just as an example:

In The Devils Sting, I have my Succubus character Annej reenact the heart removal scene from Temple Of Doom. Right down to her quoting the Hindi spell chant.

In story, she acknowledged she "saw this in a movie once, always wanted to try it."

And the end i of course credit the film as the source and inspiration.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I "borrow" movie lines all the time. Ive also "borrowed" elements from novels I've read etc.

Ive lost count of how many times I've had characters quote Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings.

There's a big difference between quoting a line or two and copying an entire scene and claiming it as your own of course.

I always put acknowledgements at the end if I feel its warranted.

Just as an example:

In The Devils Sting, I have my Succubus character Annej reenact the heart removal scene from Temple Of Doom. Right down to her quoting the Hindi spell chant.

In story, she acknowledged she "saw this in a movie once, always wanted to try it."

And the end i of course credit the film as the source and inspiration.

I do the same, ... when it's warranted.

The opening scene of my story, "Amorous Goods: The Anklet Pair" comes from an old movie which I point out in my Autor's Note at the beginning:

"The 1958 movie with James Stewart and Kim Novak, "Bell, Book, and Candle" is the inspiration for the character Rylan, her cat Meyollnir, and the Zodiac Club. That world of the 1950's witchcraft, spells, and emotionless quirky characteristics fit well into this present-day story."


I consider that enough attribution to take the scene further into my own story. After all, my story wasn't a re-creation of that movie's story. It just spawned off in a different, but similar direction of witchcraft from that movie's nightclub scene.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I found this interesting. My husband told me that map makers put one fake town on every map, so they can tell if someone copies it, but I was skeptical.

What is a Mountweazel?

As I understand it this used to be a fairly common thing, but a 1991 case established that a collection of information without some degree of creativity isn't protected by copyright, so proving that somebody has copied the data from your maps doesn't get you anywhere.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Nobody has a proprietary right in a sentence

Not usually, but courts have recognised that a single sentence can be protected by copyright if sufficiently original - cf. the 1979 Ashleigh Brilliant case discussed at https://fairuse.stanford.edu/2003/09/09/copyright_protection_for_short/.