a little post on intellectual property, copyrights, plagiarism and stuff like that
Oooo, this is a rough post to tackle, and one that I wish I didn’t have to write. But, when you are a creative artist who posts content online for all to see, chances are it’ll happen eventually. What’s “it”, you might be asking? The “it” could be anything that fits in this topic, I guess, but today the “it” I’m referring to is the unauthorized re-posting of my content – i.e. plagiarism.
plagiarize: to use the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own words or ideas, : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source {Merriam-Webster.com}
One afternoon last week I got an email from my web-service informing me that my content had been reposted. Now, this in itself is not new – often bloggers will link to content from my blog or the shop, and it’s usually just fine {i.e. linked back to me and my site} – but when I checked to see who it was and how they had quoted me, I just about fell off of my chair. This is what greeted me:
Yes, someone had ripped an entire post {word for word!} with absolutely no credit or link back to me, my site or the original post.
Even though I was quite taken aback by the fact that someone had stolen my work, what really got me upset was that they were also using photos of my children to further their own gain. My children. The mama bear in me started to roar!
I immediately contacted the blog author regarding it, but have yet to receive a response {other than her editing out some of the text on the post – but still, all the words are mine!}. My work here is all copyrighted {see the notice at the bottom of each page}, and using any of the photos or text without my permission or referring the credit to me constitutes blatant plagiarism and copyright infringement. Unfortunately, other than sending letters notifying her of the issue and requiring her to remove the post and recruiting you lovelies to do the same, it seems that there’s very little that can be done unless I am ready to hire a lawyer to act on our behalf.
I remember hearing teachers and professors lecturing students about plagiarizing assignments and wondering why anyone would ever stoop to the level of stealing someone else’s work and passing it off as their own – I just can’t understand why someone would do it. They say that the sincerest form of flattery is to copy, but stealing is in an entirely different category altogether.
This blog post on Oh My Handmade Goodness has some wonderful tips and resources about copyrights, intellectual property and infringement {and the rest of their site has some great resources for handmade shop owners and artists, too}.
Have any of you experienced this? Do you have tips or resources that you’d like to share? Please do!
’till next time,
<3
2 thoughts on “a little post on intellectual property, copyrights, plagiarism and stuff like that”
Oh, I would be so angry, too!!
I actually worried a little about the parts of your husband’s book which you posted on your family blog in the past. My former pastor and his wife have had manuscripts stolen. :(
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