Theft on Amazon

[blackrandl1958]

It has come to my attention that someone calling themselves "Audrey Sins" has been stealing stories from Lit writers and publishing them on Amazon. Writers might want to check the list to see if yours are among the plagiarized titles. Amazon has been uncooperative, to date. The link is here

https://www.amazon.com/Audrey-Sins/e/B08LZT7VLX/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

 

[Cagivagurl]

I have a story stolen by the same person...
I was made aware by another writer on Literotica. I will not mention his name... He may choose to comment???
Amazon, have been incredibly unhelpful...
They have shown no interest in taking down the story... Even although I have supplied evidence that the work was stolen...
All I have recieved from them are typecast letters, not even a personal reply...
I can only assume the the person portraying themselves as Audrey Sins, has stolen every story in her list.... Pretty good chance there are other Lit writers who like me, who don't even know.
I encourage everyone to check her work, I'm sure they will all be stolen...
Please, if you have... then fight Amazon...
Flood them with complaints.

 

[RejectReality]

Obviously, note your story has been plagiarized. That's not the most effective avenue, however.

A) Report them as being available for FREE elsewhere with links. Depending upon the nature of their agreement, they may not be allowed to offer the work for a lesser price anywhere else. Free is less.

B) Every one I downloaded a sample from contains obvious incest content. Report that. One story in the anthology gets the whole work removed. Multiple violations will get the account removed.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I will bet that she even has stolen the cover art she uses. As RR said, notify Amazon that the story(ies) are available for free else where.

But, it's unfortunate, but Amazon doesn't care if the stories are stolen, they make money off them. That's their bottom line. Bezos only cares about his spaceships now.

 

[MrPixel]

The "Amazon theft" discussion seems to happen almost on a schedule. So there must be a problem. I have a question, however: what genre or genres seem to be the target? LW? I/T? SciFi/Fantasy? Or is it across the board?

My thought is the theft activity is going to be in popular topics, 'cause "popular" is where the money is. Hopefully one of you can clarify this.

 

[Ada Stuart]

The "Amazon theft" discussion seems to happen almost on a schedule. So there must be a problem. I have a question, however: what genre or genres seem to be the target? LW? I/T? SciFi/Fantasy? Or is it across the board?

My thought is the theft activity is going to be in popular topics, 'cause "popular" is where the money is. Hopefully one of you can clarify this.

It seems like all genres are plagiarized, only this time "Loving Wives" is the main target.

It's creepy to see just how many stories have been taken. F.ex I found this one: https://www.literotica.com/s/true-meaning-of-sacrifice-ch-01

published in this anthology: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NDV6M9G/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p13_i0

I tried to file a complaint about the content. Not sure if it works but I have had results when I've bombarded them with complaints in the past.

Amazon has removed the possibility to report it as free elsewhere and it was impossible to add a link. My guess is that they just don't want to know

 

[lovecraft68]

B) Every one I downloaded a sample from contains obvious incest content. Report that. One story in the anthology gets the whole work removed. Multiple violations will get the account removed.

Except Amazon for at least a couple of years now has been-as they have done in the past-become lax on incest and other content, there are countless books with mommy daddy sister etc in the title and descriptions and many with lurid and vulgar descriptions and titles.

This is a vicious cycle, they allow it to the nth degree, the morality police complain enough, they go on a witch hunt, crack down for a year then....repeat

I have tried your strategy on a person I reported who had uploaded a bunch anthologies with stolen stories and all incest....they're still there. Amazon doesn't care in this moment

But as usual....they will suddenly block an account for incest while allowing through 50 incest books that day

If that sounds familiar, its the way Lit works and as people here are fond of saying, don't like it leave. This is the same thing except money is involved. Sad to say I've reached the point of apathy and don't even try anymore.

 

[KeithD]

Barring the providing of a formal copyright, Amazon doesn't have any more knowledge than anyone else in the United States of who owns a manuscript. There's no reason for them to take one person's word for that over another one's. When there's a free version available, that works with Amazon in getting something taken down. Some of mine have been taken care of by pointing out that earlier versions of the work are already on Amazon.

 

[MillieDynamite]

It has come to my attention that someone calling themselves "Audrey Sins" has been stealing stories from Lit writers and publishing them on Amazon. Writers might want to check the list to see if yours are among the plagiarized titles. Amazon has been uncooperative, to date. The link is here

https://www.amazon.com/Audrey-Sins/e/B08LZT7VLX/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

There are no books listed on her profile page that you linked.

 

[Ada Stuart]

There are no books listed on her profile page that you linked.

That is great news! It does take them a while to respond, but it looks like they finally removed all her titles.

Still, as long as they don't close her account, she may very easily start publishing them again under another pen name...and then the cycle continues. I think one of the authors here referred to it as a "whack-a-mole" game, and I totally agree. At some stage you just give up fighting all the plagiarized copies out there.

 

[PennameWombat]

That is great news! It does take them a while to respond, but it looks like they finally removed all her titles.

Still, as long as they don't close her account, she may very easily start publishing them again under another pen name...and then the cycle continues. I think one of the authors here referred to it as a "whack-a-mole" game, and I totally agree. At some stage you just give up fighting all the plagiarized copies out there.

Plenty of stories from Lit have, and likely are right now, lifted to any number of ‘free‘ sites out there. Last year there was much discussion (you can likely find the threads here) when someone found a site which had a whole load of mine and stories from others here. Amazingly, they copied verbatim, including in my cases my copyright statements and the prefaces where I (in some) mention “this is my entry for Literotica’s <whatever> contest.” Most of these sites are short-lived and not a few are malware traps. Life’s too short to chase these. And, with the preface there pointing people to my name and this site, well, it’s possibly advertising.

But when, as in this case, someone’s trying to directly sell, that requires action. Most of these cases seem to focus on I/T, which I don’t write, so I’ve not (yet, knock on wood) seen any of mine.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I also noted that they no longer have a date that the story was posted.

 

[MrPixel]

... Most of these cases seem to focus on I/T ...

Thanks. That's sort of where my mind was going with my inquiry.

I guess my biggest concern with this is stealing material and publishing actual books from it. I know two authors who self-publish in book form only, although I haven't talked with either about online publishing; I'll see one of them in a couple of weeks and ought to have that discussion especially since she's a blogger and has a popular podcast.

There is no stopping e-book or other online theft given the difficulty of going after "publishers" in another country. Going after Amazon would be tilting at windmills. I have an intellectual properties attorney on tap, and she'd just roll her eyes at me if I asked her to take on Bezos' malevolent venality.

 

[PennameWombat]

Thanks. That's sort of where my mind was going with my inquiry.

I guess my biggest concern with this is stealing material and publishing actual books from it. I know two authors who self-publish in book form only, although I haven't talked with either about online publishing; I'll see one of them in a couple of weeks and ought to have that discussion especially since she's a blogger and has a popular podcast.

There is no stopping e-book or other online theft given the difficulty of going after "publishers" in another country. Going after Amazon would be tilting at windmills. I have an intellectual properties attorney on tap, and she'd just roll her eyes at me if I asked her to take on Bezos' malevolent venality.

About Bezos's malevolent venality... this thread has confirmed that the pirated book was taken down from Amazon. They responded to the complaints. There have been plenty of threads on this Forum from the time I've been here documenting other cases of infringing books being taken down. So... 'going after Amazon' is, uh, working. They do respond.

Now, there are other issues with Amazon's practices, which I guess are what's in your mind. And yeah, they can be problematic. Just not in this case.

 

[KeithD]

I'll note here too that Amazon has no more assurance without being shown a formal copyright of who actually owns a work than the U.S. government does. When you ask them to take something down without showing them a formal copyright, you're asking them to make a judgment they can't legally make. At some point, thieves are going to start challenging the question of who owns what (or filing for and obtaining formal copyright themselves if you haven't) and Amazon won't have any way of making a definitive call in your favor. With Amazon taking stuff down without definitive, independent proof of ownership, a really malicious troll could demand stuff be taken down on the question of ownership merely to mess with the real author of the material. Wonder what authors will say about Amazon's action in that when it happens. I assume at that point Amazon just closes the business of taking works from anything but a vetted mainstream publisher--because folks are making assumptions of what Amazon can know about who owns the material.

Folks here aren't looking at the full picture. They know what they wrote. No one else knows that for sure, though.

 

[PennameWombat]

I'll note here too that Amazon has no more assurance without being shown a formal copyright of who actually owns a work than the U.S. government does. When you ask them to take something down without showing them a formal copyright, you're asking them to make a judgment they can't legally make.

A clarification, for me at least. By 'formal copyright,' you mean a copyright registered through the US Copyright Office? As I can't find 'formal copyright' in any of the relevant codes. A foreign work can be registered in the US, but Australia (as an example) has no 'formal' copyright registration process.

At some point, thieves are going to start challenging the question of who owns what (or filing for and obtaining formal copyright themselves if you haven't) and Amazon won't have any way of making a definitive call in your favor. With Amazon taking stuff down without definitive, independent proof of ownership, a really malicious troll could demand stuff be taken down on the question of ownership merely to mess with the real author of the material. Wonder what authors will say about Amazon's action in that when it happens. I assume at that point Amazon just closes the business of taking works from anything but a vetted mainstream publisher--because folks are making assumptions of what Amazon can know about who owns the material.

Folks here aren't looking at the full picture. They know what they wrote. No one else knows that for sure, though.

But, your hypothetical here is claimed to have happened at least once already. To an author with a registered copyright on her work. She claims there are other cases, so ya'll can search.
https://the-active-voice.com/2015/03/01/nolander-blocked-at-amazon-and-smashwords/

As a note, the book (Nolander) was eventually restored to Amazon and is (as of now) still there, under this, the apparently real and actual, author.

And, of course, there's this: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/amazon-self-publishers-eye-emerging-legal-arena-to-fight-piracy. Which doesn't do anything to deny KeithD's (or other's) points.

“Their terms are 100% lopsided toward benefiting Amazon and limiting the rights of the authors,” said Matthew J. Hefti, an attorney at Parlatore Law Group who specializes in representing authors, publishers, and literary groups.

While the Authors Guild found in 2019 that Amazon generally made good-faith efforts to take counterfeits down and reimburse customers, it said Amazon’s involvement is not proactive and mostly occurs on the back end of a counterfeit sale.

FWIW, this article puts lots of faith into the new Copyright Claims Board... (look it up, it's there to handle small claims ("damages are capped at $15,000 per work and $30,000 per case") and avoid the full cost of a lawsuit.) But, well, it still only helps if everyone is in the US... I'm not sure the CCB will be any sort of panacea.

 

[KeithD]

A clarification, for me at least. By 'formal copyright,' you mean a copyright registered through the US Copyright Office? As I can't find 'formal copyright' in any of the relevant codes. A foreign work can be registered in the US, but Australia (as an example) has no 'formal' copyright registration process.

Yes, a formal copyright in the United States would be one that was applied for, paid for, and granted by the U.S. Copyright Office. An informal copyright in the States (one that can't be legally pursued in the United States) is that one folks refer to from the wording of copyright protection in the Berne Convention that the United States signed in 1986 (with not signing this for 100 years and then doing so being an interesting separate story)--the one saying copyright kicks in at the moment of creation. (It does, but not in any meaningful way in the United States)

 

[PennameWombat]

Yes, a formal copyright in the United States would be one that was applied for, paid for, and granted by the U.S. Copyright Office.

Thanks.

An informal copyright in the States (one that can't be legally pursued in the United States) is that one folks refer to from the wording of copyright protection in the Berne Convention that the United States signed in 1986 (with not signing this for 100 years and then doing so being an interesting separate story)--the one saying copyright kicks in at the moment of creation. (It does, but not in any meaningful way in the United States)

I'm familiar with the broad history and you've related aspects of it here now and again. I worked on some projects at the ITU, so I'm aware of, uh, how the sausages get made in bureaucracies.

I'm also aware of the (unregistered) copyright notice I include at the top of my stories is worth... uh, well, less than its weight in gold or even the weight of the pixels that display it. But... because I legally can put it there and I like it. I also like that the occasional pirate site has been kind enough to include my copyright statements .

 

[KeithD]

Thanks.

I'm familiar with the broad history and you've related aspects of it here now and again. I worked on some projects at the ITU, so I'm aware of, uh, how the sausages get made in bureaucracies.

.

Book copyrights are tertiary to why the United States, after 100 years of not signing the Berne Convention (because of that bothersome, unenforceable "owned and protected upon creation" clause). In the early 1980s, media pirates in Hong Kong were copying and reselling all American songs and movie files being produced and undercutting creator profits and the United States went to Great Britain (Hong Kong was a British colony) for relief. The Brits, who had signed the Berne Convention, said they couldn't/wouldn't provide any help because the United States wasn't a convention member and did nothing for those who signed. So, after deciding how to keep massive unenforceable copyright issues (you have to obtain a formal copyright in the States to get a court date on a dispute in the States, regardless of the Berne Convention clause on owning your work upon creation), the United States finally signed the convention to get some relief from Hong Kong media pirates.

That said, the United States officially supports free access to creative works and does what little it can to support protections for author ownership and controlling of profits. (Which, as I am an author, I don't support).

 

[oggbashan]

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Americans were the worst copyright thieves in the world. US publishers pirated Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, almost everything from Dickens and Kipling, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. To establish their copyright, Gilbert and Sullivan had their first performance of the Pirates of Penzance performed by amateurs in Penzance, Cornwall, before opening in New York.

It stopped European thefts but not Americans.

 

[KeithD]

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Americans were the worst copyright thieves in the world. US publishers pirated Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, almost everything from Dickens and Kipling, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. To establish their copyright, Gilbert and Sullivan had their first performance of the Pirates of Penzance performed by amateurs in Penzance, Cornwall, before opening in New York.

It stopped European thefts but not Americans.

Yes, I think that's true--about the United States having historically been the worst example of not protecting others' copyright and still asserting its own. And that's on top of a continuing policy of supporting free access as much as possible.

 

[Manu]

While it's true that Amazon thieves have copied work from Literotica, SmashWords, etc. historically, in recent years most of the stolen ebooks on Amazon are stolen from Kindle Unlimited. Here's an article from several years ago covering the popularity of synonymized books stolen from Kindle Unlimited to publish back on Amazon:

https://davidgaughran.com/amazon-has-a-fake-book-problem/

There is little reason for an Amazon thief to leave Amazon these days. They have all the text, art, and analytics data to create books that they know will sell well on Amazon, because they are already selling well on Amazon.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

It has come to my attention that someone calling themselves "Audrey Sins" has been stealing stories from Lit writers and publishing them on Amazon. Writers might want to check the list to see if yours are among the plagiarized titles. Amazon has been uncooperative, to date. The link is here

https://www.amazon.com/Audrey-Sins/e/B08LZT7VLX/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

The latest thief on Amazon is calling themselves, Ashwin Kr, which could even be the same person, using a new name. They lifted twenty stories off Literotica this time, including my latest Halloween story. I already lodged a complaint, asking for the stories to be taken down. However, it's not that simple. It looks like everyone who has had a story stolen by this fake author has to write and ask to have their story removed. Amazon says that we have to prove that the stories are the same - the one posted here on Literotica, and the one that this fake author has published on Amazon. They are. They were even too lazy to remove the header on my story that says it's for the Halloween 2022 contest.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The latest thief on Amazon is calling themselves, Ashwin Kr, which could even be the same person, using a new name. They lifted twenty stories off Literotica this time, including my latest Halloween story. I already lodged a complaint, asking for the stories to be taken down. However, it's not that simple. It looks like everyone who has had a story stolen by this fake author has to write and ask to have their story removed. Amazon says that we have to prove that the stories are the same - the one posted here on Literotica, and the one that this fake author has published on Amazon. They are. They were even too lazy to remove the header on my story that says it's for the Halloween 2022 contest.

Apparently, Audrey Sins is no more. Ashwin Kr is alive and well and has a ton of stuff up. But without reading his stories, how do we know if they are one of ours or not? I don't see any of my titles.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Apparently, Audrey Sins is no more. Ashwin Kr is alive and well and has a ton of stuff up. But without reading his stories, how do we know if they are one of ours or not? I don't see any of my titles.

They stole 20 stories off of Lit, and didn't bother to change any of the titles. They even left the note I put on my story, "The Old House on Drury Lane" saying that it was for the Halloween contest. I compiled a list on the other thread about whose works were stolen, but I don't think any of your stories were on the list.