DU Law Folks: Copyright/Plagiarism...

[Hell Hath No Fury]

I have a question for the legal eagle folks here.

Some written, original work of mine was taken from the internet and used in a publication without my permission or payment.

I have no idea if the person who used it knew the source of the work, though I was credited for it on the site it came from. (It also traveled via email.)

Do I have any legal option for getting payment here?

[liberalhistorian]

1. That's a good question. I'm a paralegal,

so let me ask my boss and I'll try to get back to you soon! BTW, this is why I'm really hesitant to publish anything of mine on the Internet.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. Thanks!

I was a legal assistant in a prior life, but I did criminal law, so it's not a great help here. :)

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. can you prove it

and/or was your work published somewhere, and lifted onto a site?

If so, you might want to check with whomever published your work.

If not, then you'd probably have a hard time proving it was your original work.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. It was an original work....

that was printed and created for an event, then a copy of which was put up onto a website (with permission), and then which showed up later in a book.

I still have the original work and photos/video tape of it at the event, months before it was put in the book. I am also listed on the website as being the author.

I can prove that it was my work, but not how how the plagiarist came to find it.

[Don_G]

3. Will Might Know

PM him and ask.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. this goes to the original agreement with the website

Did you , by allowing your work to be posted, allow them unlimited use of that piece in it's context in perpetuity?

Check the fine print of the submission agreement or the legal statement of the website. You generally waive all rights to many internet sites when you upload to them, notwithstanding any previous arrangements.

[amazona]

7. you can try -- my experience fwiw

I sold an article in the 1980s which was quite popular and was anthologized in a literary review annual carried by libraries.

There is no doubt that the article is mine as it was widely discussed, and I received payment from both of the publishers, first for North American first serial rights and then for the reprint rights.

At the dawn of the internet, someone posted it on a website without my permission or without paying me. I only found it because in those days I could google my name and call up 10 websites, all of them actually dealing with me. I can't remember if I complained or someone else did, but that particular site then came down. However, the article still pops up online sometimes, though I've never been paid by anyone for online publishing rights. It's probably still on the internet somewhere but good luck finding it among the 10,000 pages that now come up on my name.

Bottom line: If you have published something ANYWHERE, someone else can put it online. Scanners are cheap. If the property is valuable -- you are Stephen King -- yeah, you can probably interest a lawyer in recovering damages for your stolen property. With my income in the high four figures and the value of the work less than $1,000, I really don't have that option.

I would start by sending notice to the site that the material is copyrighted and you expect to be paid 2 cents a word (or whatever) for reprint rights. If they don't pay, they must take the material offline. If they don't comply, I would try small claims court if at all possible; otherwise, you will have to try to find a friendly lawyer. Most don't bother with cases that don't have a chance of a good pay-off.

Writing really doesn't pay unless you are one of the very few "bestselling" authors out there. The issue of theft is just one issue. The issue of people boldly asking you to your face to write for free, as if they are ever asked to do THEIR jobs for free, is another. Unfortunately, people with more ego than sense often DO choose to write for free, which harms all of us who need to eat food and live in something other than a cardboard box...but that's a rant for another day. Good luck with protecting your property.