Thieving "Author"

[litfan10]

Imagine my surprise today to hear from a reader that one of my series here at Literotica is now for sale at Amazon's Kindle books by another "author" (and in this case I use that term very loosely!)

http://www.amazon.com/Single-mother-finds-inspire-ebook/dp/B004C44GAU/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

I have notified Amazon as well as Laurel and we'll see where this goes.

My big concern is that this "author," Samora Jayne, has other works for sale on Amazon Kindle.

I suggest everybody take a look at samples of each work to see if anybody else has been lifted.

As for me, I'm chuckling over the fact my work costs more than Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Dan Brown! Sheesh!

 

[sr71plt]

We've been through this before. My understanding was that Amazon wasn't too helpful with this.

If you don't hold a formal copyright on it (as in paid your $35 and registered), there isn't too much Amazon can do. You don't have a legal copyright in the States to show. (And there's a chance that the thief did register it, in which case, legally, it's theirs. A court ruling would be based on formal copyright registration.)

 

[sadangel]

/Thinking out loud

Wouldn't the fact that it was published here at Lit show that it belonged to someone other than the supposed "Kindle" author? It might not be a copyright, but it would show that at least someone else wrote it and the supposed author just copied it and put it for sale on Kindle. Litfan might not get any recompense for it, but at least it would show something. The dates stories are posted here show up on our "Stories" page on the reading portion of this site.

Just something to think about.

/Done Thinking out loud

 

[electric1]

I believe Sadangel has it right. My understanding of copyright law is that as soon as you write something down, you own the copyright. The purpose of registration is merely to have proof of how early you wrote it.

 

[Carnevil9]

I don't mind if someone steals my work here and publishes it on another site for free. No skin off my nose. Carnevil9 isn't my real name, either, so what's the difference?

But.... if they are selling the fruits of my intellectual labor, that's another story entirely! Go get 'em!!

 

[alwayswantedto]

lifted stories

<deleted>

 

[ravenmx]

From what I understand just writing your works down gives you the copyright.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/obtaining.html

 

[Lady Reiha]

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[harding]

Wow

At least one of mine is there - they have not even changed the title! It's listed as Georgia's English Rose on the UK site.

Now - I do know that in the UK proof of first publication is also proof of copyright ownership, so I'll email Amazon about this and see if they can do anything about this.

As someone else said, ripping us off and publishing on a free site is one thing. Selling out work as your own is something else again.

 

[harding]

Follow up

Just an update. The following link is to the UK Copyright office, but also mentions US copyright. Some interesting facts, in particular in relation to NOT having to have a (c) on the work to claim copyright, and some stuff about web publishing etc.

http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/copyright_myth

From reading this I would say this is a definite and clear breach of copyright law and as such it would be simple to prevent them publishing. Might even be able to go to court and get damages off them!

 

[sr71plt]

Just an update. The following link is to the UK Copyright office, but also mentions US copyright. Some interesting facts, in particular in relation to NOT having to have a (c) on the work to claim copyright, and some stuff about web publishing etc.

http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/copyright_myth

From reading this I would say this is a definite and clear breach of copyright law and as such it would be simple to prevent them publishing. Might even be able to go to court and get damages off them!

UK and U.S. laws are different. If you go to the U.S. copyright site, as is noted on this forum almost monthly, you'll find that you do have to have a formal copyright registration to go to court in the United States. The UK doesn't have copyright registration at all.

Looking on the UK site for U.S. application is irrelevant.

But by all means try it and see for yourself (and spend your own time and money in the process).

 

[Sanichi]

A little learning

If you go to the U.S. copyright site

If you mean this, the FAQ page includes:

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

Here is the link for the circular containing the relevant statement: "...registration is not a requirement for protection." It merely facilitates legal action, and in no way negates it in absense.

Where did you get the idea, "there's a chance that the thief did register it, in which case, legally, it's theirs"?

 

[Bebeslut]

What's the url for the rip-off? I want to check and see if my stuff is there too.

 

[Sanichi]

litfan10 has the link to the relevant story in the OP. The many other stories to the name Samora Jayne are here. They seem exclusively from the Incest/Taboo category, mostly priced at $11.49. Is anybody dim enough to pay for these?

 

[Bebeslut]

I just checked -- don't think she pirated me. However, I note there are a lot of titles in the lesbian category, too.

Is she using whole works, or just chapters? $9.99 for just a chapter would be cheeky!

 

[3113]

Busy thief! All stories were posted over the last few months.

For right now, we can write reviews on the stories saying that they've been stolen. Also start a discussion in the discussion section about this plagiarism.

And we can let Laurel know (send a PM directly to her) that someone is doing this as it is her and Manu's site and if people know that their stories are being stolen and sold, then people won't want to post on Lit. So it's in her interest to look into this.

I think we should at least try to badger Amazon by pointing out that this author is plagiarizing. Otherwise we really will need to remove our stories, as if this thief succeeds, then others folk will do the same--steal our stories and try to make money off them. It's a pretty easy scheme, after all.

I don't think we should let anyone get away with this.

 

[sr71plt]

If you mean this, the FAQ page includes:

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

Here is the link for the circular containing the relevant statement: "...registration is not a requirement for protection." It merely facilitates legal action, and in no way negates it in absense.

Where did you get the idea, "there's a chance that the thief did register it, in which case, legally, it's theirs"?

Yes, that's it. What part of "You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work" don't you get?

If you can't get a court date, all you have left, functionally, is moral suasion. I have no idea why some of you folks can't get this in your noggans.

I know how this functionally works out because I was on the commission charged with designing something that circumvented the Berne Convention. (The answer being "just don't change current U.S. law"--it supersedes any international convention signed).

But if you want to waste your time and money finding this out, be my guest. You might first try to find existing case law on this. You won't find much, if any, because it doesn't exist. The system is designed to keep copyright lawsuits from swamping the courts.

And if you think a case involving a work you slapped for free on an erotica Internet Web site is going to be taken up by any court as a test case, you're crazier than a loon.

Where did I get the comment on maybe the thief registered it? It's right there in the law for any of you who want to check it out. The U.S. Copyright Office doesn't do any vetting on copyright registration applications. And the first one granted on a work is the operable one. All a thief has to do is register it first, and if the case goes to court, they are the only ones sitting with proof that will be admitted to a U.S. court.

But none of you will actually do any of this. You'll just bitch and moan and expect Laurel to solve it (which only happens when morale suasion works). Anyone who contacts Amazon.com will be told to provide legal proof of copyright registration for them to take any action. We've been here before.

The bottom line is if you want to protect your work don't slap it on a free-use Web site.

My approach is that I publish it for pay first and don't post it here until it's already had its run in the market.

 

[harding]

I just checked -- don't think she pirated me. However, I note there are a lot of titles in the lesbian category, too.

Is she using whole works, or just chapters? $9.99 for just a chapter would be cheeky!

Chapters or single works - at least in my case. Georgia's English Rose was 23,000 words and I think they're (I refuse to assume it's a she) are charging $12 for it!

if people know that their stories are being stolen and sold, then people won't want to post on Lit. So it's in her interest to look into this.

This worries me too. One of my first thoughts was why put my stories here for free if someone else is ripping them off and (maybe) making money out of them. I could just as easily publish directly to Amazon and charge a more reasonable price and make something myself.

And before someone says it - yes, I know I could be doing that anyway, but that's not the point. I'm waiting to see what feedback I get from my email to Amazon. If they take no action it will be unbelievable as they are then condoning out and out plagiarism. Hmm - maybe some letters to the press or somewhere...

 

[Bebeslut]

It's crap like this that tempts me not to publish on Lit any more.

 

[michchick98]

Chapters or single works - at least in my case. Georgia's English Rose was 23,000 words and I think they're (I refuse to assume it's a she) are charging $12 for it!



This worries me too. One of my first thoughts was why put my stories here for free if someone else is ripping them off and (maybe) making money out of them. I could just as easily publish directly to Amazon and charge a more reasonable price and make something myself.

And before someone says it - yes, I know I could be doing that anyway, but that's not the point. I'm waiting to see what feedback I get from my email to Amazon. If they take no action it will be unbelievable as they are then condoning out and out plagiarism. Hmm - maybe some letters to the press or somewhere...

While I hate to admit it, I agree with sr71plt. Without a registered copyright, there's not much anyone can do. Yeah, Laurel or Manu could get involved and have the stories removed, but what's to stop the plagiarizing author from creating a new user name, tweaking the titles and offering them up again?

It sucks yes, but we take a risk every time we post our stories for free. Hell, even getting published puts us at risk because the content is still out there for people to steal. Just might be a tad easier to fight it if you have a publisher behind you rather than a free site.

With Amazon pulling incest titles right now, the best course of action, in my opinion, would be to report the story itself. Might get it removed faster and prevent future problems....or not.

It's crap like this that tempts me not to publish on Lit any more.

And no offense intended, but are you really making so much money by self-publishing on Kindle to worry about posting your content here for free?

 

[sr71plt]

If they take no action it will be unbelievable as they are then condoning out and out plagiarism. Hmm - maybe some letters to the press or somewhere...

No they're not. Look at it from their perspective. You've given them no "proof" (legal documentation) that it's yours as opposed to someone else's. For all any evidence is provided to them, you could have ripped it off just as well as anyone else. They aren't going to do any research into where anything originated (and neither does the U.S. courts--they don't accept any form of the "poor man's copyright" schemes. The only proof of ownership accepted in a U.S. court is a formal copyright registration, which is granted to anyone who registers a work--without any vetting. First one who registers is the legal owner).

Wake up and smell the world of publishing.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Just ignore SR, he's talking about seeking compensation via the court and only that.

To get your stories removed from Amazon, they just require a DMCA notification, which is a specific form that you are required to send them. Once they verify the content of the complaint the item will/will not be removed based on their investigation. Of course to make things difficult they require a separate DMCA form for each item/book.

The next best thing is to file a complaint about how they are condoning this author to sell her/his incest stories, but are pulling others for the same infraction of the rules which smacks of bias and favoritism.

SR only knows two...no make that three...things in the world.

1. How to deflate someone else's bubble.
2.
3.

No I was wrong...he only knows how to do one thing. My mistake.

 

[CharleyH]

Imagine my surprise today to hear from a reader that one of my series here at Literotica is now for sale at Amazon's Kindle books by another "author" (and in this case I use that term very loosely!)

http://www.amazon.com/Single-mother-finds-inspire-ebook/dp/B004C44GAU/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

I have notified Amazon as well as Laurel and we'll see where this goes.

My big concern is that this "author," Samora Jayne, has other works for sale on Amazon Kindle.

I suggest everybody take a look at samples of each work to see if anybody else has been lifted.

As for me, I'm chuckling over the fact my work costs more than Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Dan Brown! Sheesh!

We've all been here, so this is nothing new. Nevertheless, it's new for you. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[sr71plt]

Just ignore SR, he's talking about seeking compensation via the court and only that.

To get your stories removed from Amazon, they just require a DMCA notification, which is a specific form that you are required to send them. Once they verify the content of the complaint the item will/will not be removed based on their investigation. Of course to make things difficult they require a separate DMCA form for each item/book.

The next best thing is to file a complaint about how they are condoning this author to sell her/his incest stories, but are pulling others for the same infraction of the rules which smacks of bias and favoritism.

SR only knows two...no make that three...things in the world.

1. How to deflate someone else's bubble.
2.
3.

No I was wrong...he only knows how to do one thing. My mistake.

Zeb sort of forgot to mention what has to be in a DMCA to convince Amazon.com the work is yours over anyone else's.

But, then, if you want to rediscover this wheel, that's fine with me.

I'd challenge anyone to successfully go through this process, except I'm still waiting for reports back from everyone else (including Zeb) I've challenged to get it done based on their stubborn suppositions.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Zeb sort of forgot to mention what has to be in a DMCA to convince Amazon.com the work is yours over anyone else's.

But, then, if you want to rediscover this wheel, that's fine with me.

I'd challenge anyone to successfully go through this process, except I'm still waiting for reports back from everyone else (including Zeb) I've challenged to get it done based on their stubborn suppositions.

I filled out many a DMCA and never had to supply a copyright # or proof I had paid to have the work copyrighted and I have had all stories of mine plagiarized removed from the infringing sights.

So go stick your head up your ass where it belongs.