Author:
Growl, hiss, spit, fume, hackle!
Okay, another of my stories showed up on Kindle this week. The ripped off story is Acting Dominant, which is been >ahem< revisited as "Playing a Woman". Even the title irrigates me (as in p***es me off!). I did it for FREE, people. It was a GIFT in return for all the gifts others have given me.
The infringement policy at Amazon is buried in legalese I cannot meet, but I tried last time when some >expletive deleted< ripped off Sultan's Heir, so I'm going to try the same thing again. Below is a copy of the email I sent to [email protected]. If you have similar experiences, it might give you a start on what to look for and how to approach it with amazon. Unfortunately for ME and fortunately for Helena Darlington, Cyber-Claws are pretty much blunt and bloodless. Sigh.
Start Email *~*
Subj: Copyright Violation, Playing a Woman
Dear Sir or Madam,
I cannot prove my ownership of the story, "PLAYING A WOMAN" (Kindle Store,
url: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Woman-Helena-Darlington-ebook... ),
however, the original story, actually entitled “ACTING DOMINANT” can be found at the free site Fictionmania.tv under the authorship of Tigger - ie., me under the URL:
http://www.fictionmania.tv/stories/readtextstory.html?storyI...
The hard drive that held the original authorship files has crashed and is not available. I have several back up copies of the story dating to early 2008. However, the story archived on Fictionmania is dated as being added on 3/16/2008 and has 18 dated reviews attached to it. The earliest postings of the story were to a now mostly defunct listserv mail list in Feb 2008 that has no archive I can find. Subsequent to being posted on FM, it was also been made available on the free websites www.tigger-n-brandy.net, , Crystal’s StorySite (http://www.storysite.org/a_tigger03.html) and at Big Closet Top Shelf (http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/42197/acting-dominant-...)
The names of the main characters have been changed, but that was a quickie search and replace that was not effective. Both characters use pet-names and plays on the other's name playfully throughout the story. The S&R replaced Ty or Tyrone with Travis, but Ty-RONE (used to indicate how the female lead actually said the name has become “Travis-RONE instead. ShaJauna has become Sharona, but when ever the male character shortens her name to the nickname, Juana, the name is unchanged in the text. The other main character’s name (Solange) went unchanged. The story you published is the same as the one published and still available on the free sites above, including random text strings and their locations in the two 'different' stories.
The purported author, Helena Darlington, uploaded four total stories between October 5 and October 12, 2016. One of the other stories seems very familiar to me and is probably an “internet classic” that has been online on free sites for years, but I haven’t been able to track it down yet so I can’t try to find the real author. Since I believe that it is the fact that I have not published anything new in recent years and have not been in evidence in the online communities, this person felt safe in pirating my story. When I find the other story, it will in all likelihood be something from 2005 or earlier and belonging to an author who is no longer active online but I will look!
As I said, I cannot prove my ownership of the story by any of the means you describe on your copyright infraction page. It is, however, my story and I am annoyed that someone is trying to profit by my work, and for something I intentionally put out on the web for free, public use. In fact, one of the edits that WAS done to the story was the deletion of my copyright announcement which you can find on the copy at Fictionmania:
“Acting Dominant
By Tigger c2008, All Rights Reserved
Permission is granted for Fictionmania, StorySite, Nifty, Big Closet,
Bev's Balcony, and any other FREE site to archive and web publish this
story, unchanged, so long as the site remains free and my authorship
and copyright are acknowledged in the posting. I do not consider so-
called adult-check systems to be free, and thus, these sites do not
have permission to host this story.”
Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Xxxx X.
aka Tigger
*~* End Email
Okay, I feel a little better. At least I'm not doing 'FAT TAIL' bushiness anymore. For now.
Take care and if anyone recognizes the other stories posted by that non-author, let me know. I am on a mission.
warm furry hugs
Tiggs
Comments
That's the worst...
So sorry to hear about the theft. Good for you for having the tenacity to keep after it!
Jodie
xoxo
since this type of thing
since this type of thing rarely happens just once, it would make sense for people to make sure that her other stories are not stolen as well. The last few times I have seen similar situations the author had multiple stolen stories.
Help tigger
use your amazon account and rip the thief a new one in comments / ratings for the theft.
and rip amazon for not doing something about the thefts.
then take it to twitter and facebook.
rip the thieving author and amazon in social media.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Feedback
Oops! Left feedback on thief.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
This digusts me more than I can say.
Here is a phone number to speak with a rep for Amazon. 1-888-280-4331 Yes, I already have called about this theft of an original work by Tigger.
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
So far
Three reviews stating it was stolen, so hopefully no one else will buy it.
I've looked at the three other stories by this author
They all look familiar, too.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is theft straight up Erin. I feel for you and agree that the best thing to do (if you cannot remedy this with Amazon) is for us all collectively to call it for what it is in the ratings
A thief is a thief and I despise them
Hugs
Emily
And Don't forget
That Tigger also posted at Asstr.org a little known BBS now: Not Blackmailed by Tigger is a sample of Tigger's works there. Probably thought no one pays attention to that.
And for all authors publishing there, here is your Amazon Defense:
Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement
If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please submit your complaint using our online form . We respond quickly to the concerns of rights owners about any alleged infringement.
If you prefer to submit a report in writing, please provide us with this information:
Amazon's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:
Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108
phone: (206) 266-4064
fax: (206) 266-7010
e-mail: [email protected]
Courier address:
Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
2021 7th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
USA
Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying Amazon that your copyrighted material has been infringed.
Sephrena
It really hurts when someone is making $$ from your work
This is the reasn why there are no decent resolution pictures of mine anywhere on the internet.
I had one stolen and submitted into a competition where it won a prize. It took me months to get redress. I had to threaten the publishers of the image that I'd go there in person with the evidence (the actual slide that the image was scanned from) and my travel details before they would even start to listen to my complaint. Also telling them that I'd be charging them for my expenses helped (IMHO).
Here, it is clear that Tigger has a irrefutable case and Amazon should do the right thing and take the work down because this is a clear DMCA violation and if they don't then they themselves are breaking the law.
Samantha
DMCA takedown...
It looks like Amazon has provided a form for this purpose, available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports/infringement .
I would try filling out this form to have the pirated work taken down; if it doesn't work for you, the specifc details of how you can alternatively submit a claim can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_... . The wording is very specific in the associated law that you and they need to meet to have the story taken down.
Edit: Looks like Sephrena got to this already, sorry. It is the avenue you will want to use in this case though.