It is theft. Just because one lacks any creative capability, is not a reason to lower oneself to being a thief and a liar.
Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- but mockery is not.
Plagiarism is a CRIME
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Comments
Question: What is this about?
Yes, it's a crime. But who did it? What was it on? Information! Need to know, please. ^.^
BigCloset TopShelf
Point of Reference
When you want to put someone else's material in your story, blog, or comment you SHOULD include who wrote it, the source website (link too would be nice) or source magazine, book, or film and the specifications so others can look at the original if they like. Its a matter of nicety and correctness. Your opinion will be respected more if you do this and not make someone elses's words be confused with your own.
BigCloset TopShelf
Yes it is
I assume someone tried to copy one of your works and pass it off as thier's. Shame on them... I somewhat understand what it takes to be creative, but I dont have the talent.Â
plagiarism is by definition a crime -
I can only think, edeyn, that someone stole your hard work. Accusing anyone of a crime is fraught with perils, however, so I'm glad that you're showing restraint and keeping the details out of this, at least for the moment....
I admire all the authors who 'write fearlessly', as I think Stephan King put it, who take risks and push their creativity to invent some new work of art. Hey, it doesn't always work out as planned, but Robert Burns had something to say about that, too, that 'the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley'. Without the risk of one's emotional core, there is no art.
That said, I was brought up knowing what plagiarism was and, as far as I know, in all of my years of writing never, ever consciously copied/stole the work of another. If I ever did, I would be soooo ridiculously ashamed of my act of claiming someone else's work/ideas as my own. Sadly, today with the whole post modern concept of 'sampling' I think it's called in music, and the blurred/confused lines of protected and unprotected copyrights with downloading music from the Internet, it's no wonder that the whole concept of taking someone else's work and using it without credit or thought as to the creator's intentions, or efforts, is so confusing to so many, BUT, and that's a bigg BUTT, ignorance of the law is still never an excuse for inappropriate behavior.
When I found my religion, plagiarism will be a sin. That, and baking cookies without chocolate chips, but that's another topic...
YW
Wage peace.
He conquers who endures. ~ Persius
Like to be sympathetic ...
... but it's not easy to be without something to be sympathetic about. Give your audience enough credit and feed them some details so they can make up their own minds how, and how much to empathize. So, what's the scoop, Edeyn? :)
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
Not really...
...It's a civil tort for the most part, unless the culprit obtained your work through wiretap, burglary, a computer exploit that involved criminal trespass or decryption of protected files, or the copying was done for financial gain, the necessary minumum amount involved being US$1000 in most cases.
Bad taste? Sure. Totally rude? No doubt. Brain dead? Absolutely. But not, in real life, a crime.
Alhough your work is inherently copyrighted as soon as it's published, this doesn't actually mean much unless you can show actual damages.
On the other hand, if you take the trouble to actually send in your forms to the local copyright office, statutory damages can be assessed even if there are little or no actual damages. That's where the money is. If your words were first published recently, it's not too late.
If it were me, I'd send in my cheque, and have a lawyer send a polite but firm note to the owner of the website on which this theft occured asking for realworld contact details about the culprit and demand that the offending words be taken down posthaste.
Cheers...
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
I've Sued Once for Infringement
For my efforts and considerable legal fees I discovered that even registered trademarks are hard to enforce.
Plagiarism is hard to define. I never agreed that what Stephen Ambrose did was plagiarism. (He footnoted, but did not put in the quotation marks.)
Did I plagiarize when I paraphrased Heather's entire story to show another side of the same question. (Daddy's Little Girl/Daddy's Big Girl). I suppose some would suggest it was tainted -- but so am I.
Copyrighting your work is easily done
http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/copyright-your-literar...
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Irony
Over a year ago there was the story of a Japanese Professor who plagiarized most of a report on copyright.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070206TDY03002.htm
"It's a shame that copyright was infringed in a thesis about copyright itself," A copyright researcher said.
Einstein described insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the result to change. Was Albert a reader of TG fiction then?
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Mockery
Alas, it seems satire, lampoonery, and even base mockery are considered fair use of copyrighted material. Without that loophole, we would have no Saturday Night Live, no Mad Magazine, no The Onion, no Weird Al Yankowic. It is one of the hazards/benefits of freedom of speech and the press.
OTOH, copying someone's language, characters, or plot for the same purposes as the original, no matter how poorly or ineptly, might also be insulting, but it's certainly not a protected fair use. That's just plagiarism, and/or a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Mockery vs Mocking
Even mockery has its limits, as there is a big difference between harmlessly seeking out the humorous side of a story, like spoofing a movie, and viciously attacking someone's ideas and creations. It's the difference between making a joke about someone and making a joke OF someone.
Melanie E.
I don't understand
I'm not even asking for specifics...but if you are referring to something specific, why make a vague post? If you are just talking about the subject in general, I'd hope everyone would agree with you.
Confused Huggles
Alexis
P.S. Feel free to PM if you wish to unconfuse me privately..you are under no obligation to do so however :)
That sucks
I don't know what the circumstances are, Edeyn, but I'm sorry to hear that someone has pulled that crap on you.
Jodie