Is It Worth to Sue Someone for Breaching Your Copyright
By ppruel, 6th Sep 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutWritingColumns & Opinions
Threatening to beat someone with a trout would not change the fact that if he's going to plagiarize, he will continue to plagiarize. You can sprinkle copyright notices all over your work but it offers about as much protection as crossing your fingers and reciting a magic spell!
- No Copyright on Ideas
- Some are Bluffing Themselves
- Copyright Symbols are Pointless
- Ask Yourself and be Philosophical
No Copyright on Ideas
There is no copyright on ideas, only on the exact way the words actually appear on the page. So unless someone lifts whole sections out of your article or story, word for word, there is no real way to prove you have been robbed.
This sounds awful but in reality it is no big deal. The truth is that although writers are often derailed about having their ideas scratched, this happens so rarely that you have more chance of being savaged by a runaway yammer than of having a story line ripped off. It is not worth losing any sleep over. You will get sick.
Some are Bluffing Themselves
Sometimes you will hear people mutter darkly that they know someone who knows someone next door neighbor had the idea for a best-seller nicked but it is just another popular myth. Honestly. There are plenty of people out there who genuinely believe they have been the victim of articles or stories muggers but more often than not they are bluffing themselves.
Look at the evidence. Believe it or not that nearly every tale is a reworking of the same age-old material – only the details altered and even then writers all tend to praise for fashionable social problems, dilemmas and issues they have read about in the newspapers or heard from radio broadcasts or from television programs, books and etc.
Copyright Symbols are Pointless
Is it any wonder that your article sounds a bit like someone else’s? It is not all surprising that there are suspicious coincidences between different story. The surprising thing is that it does not happen more often. So do not get neurotic about it. Covering your work with copyright symbols are pointless. If you feel you must put a copyright notice on an article/story, only put one line, in small type at the end of the story. Do not put one on every page again, it screams that the story or article’s been submitted by an amateur. Yes. Your work is protected in theory but actually doing anything about theft especially in the Internet is virtually impossible!
Ask Yourself and be Philosophical
Be philosophical. Ask yourself: is it worth trying to sue someone for breaching your copyright if he/she lives on the other side of the world and getting him/her into court would bankrupt you? Well do not take this seriously - this is merely my opinion.
To read my previous article visit Vita Cafe: Alternative Coffee
And for those who want to share their awesome articles and other stuff, do not think twice Hit Wikinut, Write and Get Paid.
Comments
6th Sep 2011 (#)
I think the humiliation is enough penalty for the plagiarist to endure if he is caught and his misdeeds shown to all and sundry. Congrats to the star page, dude Paul.
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
As always said, thank you kab Buzz - based from my experience. Last April some of my works were plagiarized. My blood pressure has risen drastically for knowing about the guy that he was plagiarizing articles by bulks. He's also using the same bathroom, bedroom, living room and other visible things I am using in the house. We're both living in the same roof under the care of Triond community.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
My work is US Copwright protected and I am entitled under the Copywright infringement law to sue anyone who uses my work or any nature of my work without permission or royalty.
Copywrights are certificates of authenticity given to you after a lot of research. It took me Three months to get my copywright andget inducted into the US Library of Congress.
I don't think it a violation when you sue a person for using, defacing your authentic work i.e. your toil and blood as that is your time and money spent to create a masterpiece that could fetch you an income in return.
It is as good as piracy of music and videos but in a different segment and I am currently in a case with Sony for stealing the Immortal theme from The Land of Mystery Embodiment of Love which is written for Michael Jackson.
I also have another case pending for the Behind the Mask Short Film which was based on an idea coined by my team in 2007 but not copywright. I am still exploring avenues on how to put this claim because of this but it will be done.
So yes, I would sue the company and get the other party to pay all the litigation cost plus royalty and compensation for the work and a public apology.
From personal experience.....
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
WoW! What a share friend. And you did the right thing. Thanks for sharing it here.
Could you believe it that I ably closed a site of the person that plagiarized one of my works? It happened last April 2011. He's also a Triond contributor. He used my work without my permission. Now then I realized that using our username as one of the article Tags can help trace people and website owners that plagiarized other works.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
Its Aiyanna BTW....
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
Noted Anisha (Aiyanna). Thanks.
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
You must be thankful friend gbfjkdfu8ds9a that Wikinut is not yet using a Flag It Button to delete spam...like what is happening at Triond site.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
Very informative and the thought of beating a person with a trout made me smile.
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
@Gina-gee, thank you hehehe I guess that's the best word to describe. LOL.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
Very good read and a great help, thank you ppruel!
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
Ms. Delicia - you are always welcome and thank you for the kind words. Noted.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
The Internet has spawned a new art: the art of circumventing the ownership of words--and countless people do it every single day. In a few years time, copyrights will mean absolutely nothing. A few days ago I was offered a huge sum of money to take an article off the net and rearrange the words so that it would pass a plagiarism scan so that someone could post it on their site as their own, original piece. To me, changing a few words is still stealing that original writer's hard-earned words. I turned the job down. Another so called "writer" accepted the asignment. It's appalling what is considered writing today. The Internet is destroying a very important tradition. Soon, there'll be nothing to bitch about. It'll all be said and done because Internet writing has no inherent integrity.
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
Happy for you James that you're not sucked for the said offer.
Internet is good and it is a helpful tool. Although some people are using it for their fancies and whims. One of the many reasons why the internet had become a den of criminal crimes. These people are unscrupulous in methods of making money and in taking advantage of the unfortunate victims.
Thank you James for your insightful comments. Much appreciated.
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6th Sep 2011 (#)
James, I was about to write something very similiar to what you have. Not that I would read what you have written and copy word for word, but that you expressed an idea that I appreciated a long time ago.
We can take each other's core idea, that is that the Internet is a free for all. That there is no way of policing it, because one can take your article, translate it into Bulgarian, and post it on a Bulgarian site, and it can become the rage, and you'd never know.
Sometimes on sites like these I'll see an article with a title that seems very much like mine but the contents are totally different. In fiction it is easier to tell that something has been ripped off...but in factual articles, where one can not change the facts, it depends on one's creativity.
I often find something I wrote a year or so ago, and rewrite it, and it becomes a substantially different piece...but I only touch my own work.
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
I like the idea Kaylar "touch my own work" this could be a fantastic creed for all writers! Thanks...
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7th Sep 2011 (#)
A really interesting and informative article, ppruel, and just loved the video! Congrats on Star page..
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
Much appreciated Ms. Songbird. Thank you too for always supporting me. See you around again.
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7th Sep 2011 (#)
Trouble is, we writers need to take risks to get our work seen, published - and out there. I'll keep on taking those chances even though I know I've been ripped off dozens of times. C'est la vie!
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8th Sep 2011 (#)
That is life and partly part of life though if there is away to protect our property then we should act...Thank you Sheila. I appreciate.
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