I’m a Published Author!
July 7th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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Well, sort of….
I recently learned that a book was published last year that includes plagiarized copies of at least two of my articles. Someone told me about the book because he found the text familiar and realized that he’d already read it on my web site.
This was done without my permission, and no credit was given to me in the book. The author is passing off my work as his own. This book is currently still selling both online and in bookstores and was published by a major book publisher. I wrote these articles years before the book was published. They’ve been very popular online, each read by tens of thousands of people.
This wasn’t just a case of borrowing ideas, which would be perfectly legal, since mere ideas aren’t copyrightable. The book reproduced most of my text verbatim, paragraph for paragraph, word for word — at least six pages total (it could be more though, since I haven’t scanned the whole book yet). Even my personal stories were included with minimal rewording to make them seem as if they were the author’s own. Imagine someone trying to resell your memories and personal experiences as his own. Reminds me of an old Seinfeld episode where J. Peterman tries to buy Kramer’s memories….
I’ve already had plenty of experience with copyright infringement from my games business. I’ve seen people steal pages of content from my web site word-for-word, resell my games as their own, or develop identical level-for-level clones on other platforms without permission. At least a dozen other developers I know have had to deal with similar problems. Happens all the time. With web sites it’s pretty easy to handle, since 95% of the time the culprit will take down the offending content within hours as soon as you inform him that you know about it. And if that doesn’t work, you just start sending out emails until you have sufficient leverage (to their web host, the top sites that link to them, sites they link to, associations they belong to, etc). I periodically catch infringers by doing Google searches on unusual bits of text from my site. Hmmm… just identified two more offenders right now. One is even an ISP. Be careful who you hire to write your web content!
In most cases when people contact me to ask for republishing permission for an article, I’m happy to allow it as long as proper credit is given with the original copyright notice and a link to my web site. My articles dating back to 1999 have been republished on dozens of other sites and in some physical media, and this helps drive a lot of traffic. And of course fair use allows people to post snippets of articles and comment on them w/o asking permission. But you can’t just grab thousands of words of copyrighted info off other sites and attempt to pass it off as your own.
When I wanted to republish a piece of text written by another author in my upcoming book, I contacted the copyright holder and got a signed letter of permission. And my book will certainly include that author’s original copyright notice. It’s not that hard to do. I’ll also be sending that person a free signed copy of the book as thanks.
I’ve already talked to an intellectual property attorney about this particular case of copyright infringement, mainly to get information and consider what I’d like to do next. There are several different ways I could pursue this, but I haven’t yet decided whether I want to go the full legal route or try a different approach. Nevertheless, if anyone here can recommend a good IP attorney (or is one) with experience in copyright infringement, please let me know.
I’m at least glad to know that more people are reading my work offline as a result of this book, and hopefully the people who read it will find it beneficial. Of course, I must wonder about the integrity of the book’s other content, and the author has written other books as well. Were other authors also plagiarized? Aside from the fact that the author and publisher are likely profiting from my original work, this situation also creates additional problems for me that could last for years. For starters people who encounter my articles after reading the book may end up thinking I plagiarized content from the book. My writing style tends to be strong and direct and in my opinion, this causes my content to stand out in the book somewhat. The person who first informed me of the plagiarism acknowledged that he was hesitant to do so out of concern that I might be the plagiarizer, so that just won’t do. Also, I reasonably expect I will re-use content from those articles (including my personal stories) in future speeches or seminars at some point. A reputation for integrity is crucial in the speaking business (unless you’re a former U.S. President), and this author’s actions could hurt me down the road. This type of book would sell to the same type of audience that would be interested in this web site.
Right now I’m probably a little too close to this situation to view it totally objectively, so I’ll set it aside for a few days and examine it from a fresh perspective. I’m not interested in revenge or in damaging the author’s reputation, but nor can I permit this plagiarism to continue unchallenged. I don’t wish to name the particular book, author, or publisher at this time (or to approve comments that name them), as that of course opens a Pandora’s Box that cannot easily be closed. But I would like to invite your opinions on this, especially if you’ve been through a similar experience or known someone who has.
What would be the most intelligent thing to do in such a situation? The most honorable? The most compassionate?
What would you do in such a situation?
Oh, what a tangled web we weave….
July 7th, 2005 at 4:02 am
Congratulations Steve!
I don’t know anyone who’se been in such a situation before, I think you should not go through the legal system unless he makes huge amounts of money from this book.
The best path IMHO for you is to reveal the book’s name to us - your audience and we’ll do the rest of the job for you… We probably won’t buy the book, maybe some of us will inform others who are interested in the subject of self improvement not to buy the book.
We can write negative reviews on amazon and other places.
I know this might sound like flaming, but it might be the natural way for a web based community to protect itself.
Come to think of it, you don’t need to reveal the book’s name. It will be revealed somehow without your action. Remember that after all the bad things that came out of pandora’s box, at the bottom of it was left hope.
P.S. I’m a dedicated reader of your blog since you started it and I talk about it to friends and family.
I would like to place an order for YOUR upcoming book.
Ami, owner of the smallestbusiness on the web.
July 7th, 2005 at 5:06 am
This is interesting. I always wondered how someone who is at a higher level of being/thinking/consciousness would react to situations of injustice/unfairness/etc.
Steve, please turn this into another series of articles so we can learn from how you handle a situation like this one! A lot of us have to face this frequently and it is hard to deal with them without lowering yourself to levels noone is proud of being at.
Thanks.
July 7th, 2005 at 5:12 am
Steve,
The answer to this problem is very simple. The justice system was designed to protect your rights. Too often the system is bent and molded with the intention of linining the pockets of a few unethical souls. On occassion, the sytem really protects the victimized. In your case, someone stole from you. Consequently, you should take legal action. If no other other reason, just to stand up for what is right! Do not let “slackers” get off easy and make profit from your hard work and without your consent.
Good Luck
July 7th, 2005 at 5:16 am
Absolutely go through the legal system. It may not end up being worth it financially in the end, but you can not let individuals take advantage of you, and as you say, possible damage your reputation in the process.
Also, notify Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and other companies selling the book. If you prove to Amazon that they are selling potentially illegal material, they will pull it.
Do not let this go.
Geoff
July 7th, 2005 at 5:19 am
Steve:
I think there are two kinds of plagarism. Dumb plagarism and malicious plagarism. Dumb plagarism is when people copy too much of our content thinking it is ok, and the content is unchanged. Malicious plagarism is when our content is purposely snatched, and proactively claimed as their own.
As an author, I would ask the “dumb” to correct the mistake and appologize/give credit. I would go after the “malicious” if I had the resources - because what they do is theft and that author should not be making money off others. Ami has a good point that it might not be worht if unless the author is selling lots of books.
If you have confirmed the information, perhaps you should confront the author and publisher and give him or her an opportunity to take down the book before you go public. A letter on a lawyer’s letterhead might make the point that you are serious.
As bloggers, we put thousands, millions of word out there. I can handle it when people are just naive and borrow my words - I could not rest and let someone claim my experiences and purpetuate a fraud. I would do what I could to get the books pulled. If this happens, no other publisher will touch this person in the future, which is good.
It’s too bad this happened, Steve.
July 7th, 2005 at 5:40 am
So Steve…
When will we be able to place an order for your first book?
July 7th, 2005 at 5:59 am
Steve,
IANAL, but I would suggest you to consider the possibility that, if you don’t take the iniciative, the book publisher (or the autor him/herself) might try to prosecute you for plagiarism, taking the unfairness of the situation to even a higher level if possible, and putting yourself on the situation of having to prove in court you’re the original author.
July 7th, 2005 at 6:15 am
Steve, you are already a published author, with many years and many thousands of words online. That is probably a bigger achievement than getting “published” by your average publisher (and I am a publisher, so I should know).
Something should be done to inform the publisher that they are distributing a title — perhaps more than one — that contains stolen content. The author may well have plagiarized others and could do it again if they are not stopped.
My suggestion is to avoid the legal route, because it is expensive and could drag on for years, and to write to the publisher directly, perhaps addressing it to the legal department or to a named individual. Assuming you have proof that the plagiarized text was first published at a later date than your original text (the Internet Archive Wayback Machine may help here), politely ask them to consider quietly withdrawing the book from sale, perhaps by marking it “out of print” and not distributing more copies. Also suggest that the publisher check other titles by the “author”.
Then, if the publisher ignores you or refuses and you decide to go the legal route, you have evidence that you tried to sort it out in a gentlemanly manner.
Ami’s suggestion is also good and valid. There is no reason that I can see why you shouldn’t reveal the name of the author and the book, provided you are absolutely and incontrovertably sure of your facts.
This is only my gut feeling as to the best path to take initially. IANAL (I am not a lawyer, thank goodness).
July 7th, 2005 at 6:39 am
If Gandhi were alive today, I would ask him what to do. With his knowledge of law and his ability to compassionately resolve conflict, he would be well equipped to correct this issue.
July 7th, 2005 at 7:01 am
Steve -
You search periodically for snippets for your articles online and find unauthorized copies of your work. Why not search for snippets from this book and try to find out if someone else is the original author of those pieces? Use the Wayback Machine to find the earliest known posting of those articles, collect the list of links into a suitable format, and politely pass it along to the publisher, the author, Amazon, any other bookseller that carries the book, and a lawyer. I would not even directly mention that you are buried in the list - let anyone who follows the links see it as plain as day. Don’t even post that list here.
It should take care of itself from there.
The sad part is that this author has just ruined himself. Even if everything else he ever wrote was his own words, and he was stealing from you because he was short on time and had serious writer’s block, he has demonstrated himself to be untrustworthy. This is probably the last book contract he’ll ever get. It’s not a big enough deal for him to become world famous and sell a controversial autobiography (like Glass did), so he’s just done. He’s really going to have to go into another line of work.
Let’s hope it’s not public speaking.
July 7th, 2005 at 7:13 am
So, what’s the title of the book?
July 7th, 2005 at 7:32 am
Just look at the brigth side… you have just more and more evidence that you are doing a good job… your stuff is worthwhile plaging!
I think you shold ask your mentor and people in the business what you should do… I am sure you are not the first author that is copied that way…
Good luck!!!!
Daniel
July 7th, 2005 at 8:03 am
My church published a newsletter that was for the women of the congregation. The newsletter offered articles and encouragement. Some of the encouragement was in the form of original poetry… others in the form of anonymous poetry.
Unfortunately for us, we didn’t bother to confirm that anonymity of a particular poem. This poem was included in the newsletter and available in PDF format on our website. The author of the poem requested we pay a specific amount of money and remove the poem/newsletter from the website. After a few emails back and forth, we complied as she had informed us she was being kind since we were a church and had not done it maliciously. She also informed us she usually requests $10K (instead of the couple of hundred).
Although she claimed this was her means of income, I wonder sometimes if she could easily forward her poem anonymously to various friends and just sit back and wait a sufficient amount of time before beginning her Google searches to find those who had posted her poem (listed as anonymous) on their websites then hit them up for money. Sounds like a racket to me (but that’s my cynical side coming out).
This is a form of plagiarism unawares. From that point forward, we only accepted new material. Now, of course, with the possibility of someone claiming a poem as their own and it was actually copied, all material received should be checked online.
Personally, I agree with the “gentlemanly” approach as it starts with those who stand to lose the most from the whole deal (the Publisher whose reputation may become tarnished as well… after all, what authors want to use a Publisher that supports plagiarism). After that, take the necessary steps because this situation will affect all future use of the material plagiarized.
July 7th, 2005 at 8:09 am
BTW.. on the subject of revealing the author/book, don’t. This is your personal battle and any such statements on this website pointed at the author/book could be deemed as libelous and result in a counter-suit from the author/publisher. He’s already muddying up your reputation, don’t drag yourself down to his level.
July 7th, 2005 at 8:35 am
My guess is that Ami is half-right: her suggestion to take up blogosphere vigilante justice might happen even without you revealing the name of the book.
It’s easy to do a “search inside the book” at Amazon. One could randomly take sections of old articles on your site and find the offending book in less than half an hour. (Personally I don’t have the time or inclination, but many do.)
With such a popular blog and with such dedicated readers, you might find people doing the research and revealing the plagiarist without your consent.
As for what action you should take, I’d consult your IP lawyer. Best of luck, friend! I enjoy reading your blog tremendously.
July 7th, 2005 at 8:44 am
I’d start by googling for other text in the book and see if you can find any other victims. Also, get your documentation in order so that you can prove unequivocally that you did in fact publish this material earlier than the ‘bad guy’. If you can’t, you can be sure this person will be reversing the accusation. Did you register any of your earlier works with the Copyright office? If so, that will constitute lots of proof of when it’s written, if not it’s harder to prove, especially on the web.
Assuming the publisher is a well known one (and not some fly-by-night outfit), call or write to them (I’d personally start of with a phone call, but I’d record it). If the publisher is at all honest, AND you can prove your case, they will have no interest in fighting on the side of the bad guy. With sufficient proof, you can certainly get them to discontinue publication, and they might well drop him/her altogether (especially if the book victimizes more than just you).
I doubt you’ll ever see a nickle unless you use the courts (and the lawyer is going to get most of what’s there), but getting the offending material off the market is definitely something you should work for. You’ll also want a letter of apology from at least the publisher (and preferably the author) to deal with any future accusations of theft on your part. Nothing beats a charge of theft like an apology from the real thief. You’ll also want the publisher to tell you how many copies are in the wild, so that you can gauge the impact this might have on you.
July 7th, 2005 at 8:56 am
One thing you might to do for proof is to play with the wayback machine at archive.org. I can’t check it right now (work has a badly implemented web filter), but assuming you know where you published the material in question, you might be able to find it in their archives, which would give a nice third-party backup to your claimed date of publication.
July 7th, 2005 at 9:19 am
Proving that I was the original creator of these articles is easy enough. Both of my plagiarized articles can be seen published on 2002 versions of dexterity.com from the internet archive (www.archive.org). And even before that, one of the articles was physically published in the Association of Shareware Professionals newsletter (ASPects) in 2001, during the time when I served as ASP President. This newsletter was professionally printed and snail-mailed to about 1000 ASP members, and the ASP also maintains an online archive of these past issues on its web site.
Plus it should be no problem for me to find dozens (if not hundreds) of people who can verify these facts, not to mention all the dated references to them on the internet.
July 7th, 2005 at 10:30 am
Steve…
I recently went through IP theft. My heart goes out to you over this mess.
I agree with Lisa that there are people do steal IP knowing full well what they do, and there are people who are fundamentally clueless. Clueless of not, it’s infringement of your rights. Compassionate or not, you have to defend your copyright; it’s one of the responsibilities of having it. If you don’t defend it, you ultimately lose it.
In case it helps you…
In my case, because I had a relationship with the person who had stolen and used my IP, my first thought was to address it myself. My business advisors suggested I let an attorney do it because 1) I was too close to the matter, and 2) the whole thing was emotionally charged. I followed their advice.
My attorney wanted me to sue for damages. I had to, on more than one occasion, make the case with him that all I wanted was for the infringement to stop. I wasn’t out for a pound of flesh. Ultimately, that’s exactly what I got. In hindsight, if anything, I wish I would have considered suing for fees; defending rights can be expensive, and I think that’s not an expense the victim shoud bear (it’s rather like being victimized twice).
It’s a shame that any of us have to deal with these issues. Good luck with this, however you decide to handle it.
Stacy
July 7th, 2005 at 10:37 am
Steve,
This kind of problem is not new by any means and a lot of options are already available to you, as they have been for other authors plagiarized in the past. However, given your everpresent interest in going off the beaten path and making the optimal decision in every situation, this issue is worth examining from various perspectives.
In your post you expressed a hope that the content plagiarized from you will at least benefit those who read it. This reminds me of a Harry Truman quotation:
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
(I wonder if Truman himself thought it up, or if it was his speechwriter who did.
But anyway… ) On the one hand you can think of the plagiarizing problem as a means/ends dichotomy:
End: Many people read your personal development material and live better lives as a result (Good)
Mean: A well-known author plagiarized your articles. (Bad)
You might find some satisfaction in that good end, even though the means are disturbing. Nonetheless, using the same means/ends perspective, this marginally positive end is a local maximum which produces a worse “end” further down the road:
Ultimate result, X years from now: The plagiarist is unable to continue providing quality personal development material, since the plagiarized authors remain uncompensated for their work or are sued themselves for plagiarism, compelling them to look for different careers. The plagiarist is unable to continue providing reliable personal development recommendations since he/she/it can’t base them on his own experiences, and the authors the leech was attached to have been sucked dry. Readers fail to benefit from the personal development content that the authentic authors would have produced and disseminated had they been compensated for their efforts.
The local maximum (a plagiarist helping people through misappropriated and possibly misinterpreted content) gets in the way of the global maximum, the greater good (authentic personal development gurus delivering more and more authentic and reliable content.) Thus, for the good of readers and authors, the plagiarist must be stopped and held accountable.
This conclusion may sound utilitarian, but it is not. Though an interest in the good of the many readers is important, by stopping the plagiarist that would work out for his individual good as well. As a plagiarist, that author is a professional leech, a parasite who could hardly be imagined to be living a worthwhile life as a human. As a plagiarizer of personal development advice, he is in addition a hypocrite, who must at least subconsciously be in distress over the disparity between the way he lives and what he teaches. A confrontation with the truth about his parasitic nature will open up to the path to congruency, and hopefully the path to true personal development as well. The likely immediate consequences for this person (the loss of a reputation, the possibility of getting a full scholarship to the school of hard knocks) are not pretty, but there is the hope of ultimately positive results in this person’s life. A major factor in the consequences this person experiences for actions will be his response. What if, when initially approached, he decides to pay decent financial compensation to his victims, helps connect them with major publishers, and also publicly announces his offense, so that readers can give credit where credit is due? What if in turn some of his victims—which may include some selfless personal development gurus—decide to help him develop and rise above a life of parasitism? What if he dedicates the rest of his life to detecting, combating and preventing plagiarism in society? Since I am convinced that people are always held accountable for their actions, even when they appear to be getting away with it, it is definitely in this person’s best interest to desist from his evil, leech-like plagiaristic tendencies.
What would be the most honorable and compassionate thing to do in a case like this? Justice springs from honor and mercy from compassion, and the two form a complex dichotomy which is often difficult to apply optimally. I would argue for starting from justice–seeking restitution from the plagiarist without too much noise at first and escalating the issue up to the courts (if deemed necessary or desirable by the plagiarist’s response.) Mercy could be shown at any step in that process by gauging the offender’s willingness to make concrete steps toward restitution. If the offender takes huge leaps toward restitution when you first contact him about it, then maybe you can forgo seeking legal redress. The negative consequences he reaps for his actions will probably be rather large whatever you do, but you could show mercy by refusing to go out of your way to further smear his reputation or squeeze every last penny from him. Though it might seem compassionate to let him off with a slap on the wrist rather than forcing him to make restitution, true compassion demands an interest in the ultimate welfare of the other person. The ultimate welfare of the plagiarist might require his going through some really hard experiences at first, only to ultimately find a much more rewarding kind of life after renouncing parasitism.
How do you pursue all this intelligently? Beats me. Hopefully the IP lawyer can help you with that, if he or she has a worldview that is compatible with your interest in honor, justice, selflessness and compassion, along with the legal know-how.
Andres
July 7th, 2005 at 11:37 am
I made a post to my weblog about your plight. Perhaps you will get some feedback from a fellow attorney who specializes in infringment matters as a result. My understanding of the typical first step that a IP lawyer would likely recommend would be to write a “cease and desist” letter.
There are many varieties of “cease and desist” letters. At a minimum, a claimant asserts the claimant’s rights, may make a demand for relief, and may leave open other options to pursue. It may or may not make sense to pursue a legal action. It is always best to have a well thought out strategy for what to do after sending the letter. The strategy may be creative, dependent on the response received and should be worked out in consultation with an experienced attorney.
July 7th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Public shame should not be necessary - any reputable publisher will answer to serious challenges, and especially if that leads to public retraction of the book from the shelves, the author’s name will make the circuit in the publishing world, likely to the point of him/her not being able to publish anything with any major publisher for some time.
If the author or publisher is unwilling to listen to reason, fililng a formal complaint is necessary for your own protection and image, as you note. But then let the court of public opinion take over by releasing the complaint, ideally through something like The Smoking Gun. The resulting public reaction will be quicker, more effective and cheaper than a full-fledged lawsuit.
Best of luck.
July 7th, 2005 at 4:25 pm
Being part of the photo.net community, we come across this type of thing quite often, with our photos being published in books, with out our consent or knowledge.
Hope this works out for you.
All the best…
JPL
July 7th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
I would like to give a different perspective on this situation by relating it to a case where I was the “baddie”.
I wrote a freeware units conversion program and one of the functions in it was to convert between various scales of steel hardness. These scales do not have simple mathematical relationships and the conversions are done using empirical tables drawn up from experimental work. Anyway, I searched the internet and included about 20 of these scales.
After a few months I received an email from a manufacturer of hardness testing equipment very politely informing me that I had infringed their trademark by using their name to label one of the hardness scales. Largely because they started off so politely (but it was obvious they were carrying a big stick) we were able to work out a solution where (for no cost) they allowed me to continue using their name provided I acknowledged their trademark and explained the situation in the help function, plus I put a link into my program to their web page.
This was a nice win-win result. I have their data and blessing, and they get links from a program that gets about 120 downloads per day.
Perhaps you can get to a similar result? If the author retains your articles in his book, but explains that they are written by you and includes a link to your site he will have a better book than he could have written himself and you will get publicity (and some money if you agree on royalties). My advice is to start off politely, but use a lawyer to write the letter to make it clear you are carrying the big stick behind your back.
BTW, I hope you will classify me as a “clueless” and not a malicious plagiarizer!
July 8th, 2005 at 12:52 am
I’d fin out where he lives and call him up and abuse him, but that’s just me.
July 8th, 2005 at 2:55 pm
In addition to Harvey Wilson’s comment, I would suggest a sticker that the publisher has to stick on one of the first pages of every copy of the book, saying something like:
“The text on pages x to y and z are heavily based on articles by Steve Pavlina. Visit his website at http://www... for more personal development articles.”
Or he has to black the corresponding passages — wouldn’t be the first book with blackened passages.
July 8th, 2005 at 9:06 pm
Since you can prove that you wrote the words in question first, and then that your words are copied verbatim and are about personal memories, it is hard to imagine a successful defense. Since the plagiarist is trying to make money from your words, legal threats are in order, but I think that the most effective punishment and remedy will be publicity. Cases of plagiarism get a lot of attention in the mainstream press, and since this involves the Web, it’s an interesting example of changing trends and thus would be an attractive story to editors in newspapers such as the NY Times, Wash. Post, USA Today. This kind of bad publicity is feared by publishers, not to mention being fatal for the reputation of the author. I think going public as soon as you feel ready (and after consulting a good attorney, of course) is the fastest way to get the books recalled and the author discredited.
July 8th, 2005 at 9:24 pm
Hi. I Just found your website the other day & am slowly working through all of your articles. Great stuff. One additional route you might pursue is with the writers employer. I’m not sure if the thief is an academic or not but many book writers in this genre are. If that is indeed the case, most Universities have explicit rules barring plagarism & this act could and should result in the person’s firing/loss of tenure.
As to what you should do, if someone stole your car and put his license plate on it would you let him keep it? This is no different and in many ways is worse.
July 9th, 2005 at 1:19 am
Considering the type of work that you decided to do, and your goal to become as big a person as you can be, I think the best challenge for you in this situation is to make that author your friend.
I’m glad you didn’t take it too hard on yourself in the first place, because that way you prooved you are a bit above the situation. Im really interested in how you will react on this one.
Good luck
July 9th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Take a look at http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
July 9th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
What you describe surely sounds like something malicious. It reminded me though of one of your previous articles/blog posts. When I read it I had just finished the book “the now habit”. Your article http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/overcoming-procrastination.htm is a great summary of some of the main points of the book. But you didn’t credit it anywhere in the article and it sounded like 100% original content.
The “I have to/I choose to” and “I must finish/I must start” are from the chapter “how to talk to yourself”. “Replace Deprivation With Guaranteed Fun” is from the chapter “Guilt-free play, quality work”.
Now, I remember you saying you were reading a ridiculously large amount of books, so one way or another you probably just remembered those points and not the book they were from. But still, you present it as *your* content, though it is actually lifted from a book. This just shows how easy it is to make an error with this.
Again, the thing you’re experiencing now seems much more serious. Reminds me of a PhD collegue who literally saw a paper written by him in the proceedings of a conference with somebody else’s name on it. He did manage to keep the guy from presenting it, but in the end it was al hushed up and swept under the carpet to protect some sensitive professors’ reputations… I really hope you’ve got more luck with it.
Reinout
July 9th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
@Reinout: Whenever I write an article, the ideas come from a variety of sources — books, articles, CDs, seminars, personal experience, conversations, etc. I have a whole shelf just of books that address procrastination. After a while I stopped finding many original ideas and found that most experts in the field were saying the same things, just using different words. Pick any random book on the subject, and you’re bound to find overlaps with my article because they draw from similar source material. For example: Following Through, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Living Without Procrastination.
Ideas themselves are not copyrightable; only their unique expression is. I also don’t think it’s unethical to borrow ideas from various sources and re-organize them — to me that’s how we grow, by churning others’ ideas through our own consciousness, combining them with personal experience, and presenting new variations. For example, if you read something on this site which you consider to be a good idea, you’re totally free to share it with others in your own words. If you were to write an academic paper, it might be standard procedure to credit every source you can recall, but I don’t think that’s necessary (nor common) for less formal publication outlets. Nevertheless, if I want to present or review ideas from a single book that I feel is unique (at least unique in my experience), then I’ll name the source. I’ve done this in previous blog entries like “Levels of Consciousness” and in articles like “Clean Up That Mess.” But I don’t tend to do this if there are something like 10+ different sources, especially if I can’t even recall them all.
Copying dozens of paragraphs of text verbatim, however, is copyright infringement because then you aren’t just borrowing ideas but copying their unique expression. Even if you credit the source in that case, it’s still illegal to do so w/o permission. Fair use provides certain exceptions, but passing off someone’s exact text as your own isn’t one of them.
July 10th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
What I wonder is if the author copied your work in the past, do you think they read this very blog, and will see this thread?
That would get your heart pounding I bet.
July 10th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
@Chris: Doesn’t matter to me — he’s going to find out soon enough.
July 11th, 2005 at 12:52 am
It is always hard to face such a situtation.
All’ve been told, I only write this post (as a frequent reader of your post) to
show my solidarity. In my opinion, you should go after her/him.
July 26th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
At less if he copied the whole text, but gave you credit, or said it was your story even without asking, that would be more acceptable — even if not legal — IMHO.
All this is pretty contreversial. Sure that is personal experience we are talking. But if it was only an informational book, and some compiled a list of 10 articles on a subject, that fit perfectly, that would be as interesting as being able to use 10 code libraries perfectly to make something perfect. Ok I’m babbling there ;-)^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H[…]
July 29th, 2005 at 8:48 am
Hello! I came across your website as I was looking for any legal action that could be taken for plagarism. I am currently in a situation where I have proof that an Intern had been stealing the work I had completed for my internship, copying most of it word for word and turning it into the university she attends, the same university that I had graduated from. Although your situation and mine are different, they are still the same. I am very passionate about bringing cheaters to the punishment or at least the recognition as a cheater. I have contacted our university and sent copies to them of the plagarized work. I am unsure whether university policy for flagrant plagarism which is a recommendation by a professor for university suspension will be carried out. I just wanted to empathise with your situation and let you know that some people just can’t think for themselves and do their own work, which is very sad. I am just hoping this cheater is not rewarded with a degree for my work.