Of plagarism, copyright infringement and legalities

August 9, 2007 | Under Legal Issues | 9 Comments 

Well, as a few of you may know I run a Writing Forum. Considering as the site is related to writers I knew this was bound to happen eventually. Take one guess what I’m talking about.

Copyright Infringement. Good job.

As I said, I knew it would happen sooner or later but I wasn’t really prepared for it. In the past I’ve received people posting Frank Sinatra’s lyrics as their own, but that’s usually as bad as it got (it was easily refuted).

However, in the past few days I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the lovely author, Alex Severin - who, to be honest, hasn’t been that lovely as of late. A few days ago Alex signed up on the forum i mentioned above and PMed me her complains about her stories being stolen and posted on my forum as a different user. I (and my amazing moderator team) investigated the issue and decided that both sides had a decent argument and decent proof to support their case. Because of this we decided to remove the stories but leave a notice saying that there wasn’t enough information to determine who was the actual original author of the stories. While this may anger the user who posted the stories, I thought it would suffice for my dearest Alex. Well, it didn’t.

Alex originally sent me a very polite PM explaining the issue. In response I acted as I stated above. She in turn got angry and began to spam the PM boxes of my and my moderators with repetitious private messages, not giving any of us enough time to response. She wouldn’t even tell us what she wanted until the lovely email I got this morning. Apparently she wants me to publically recognize her as the author on my site! I thought I’d done plenty but removing the alleged stolen stories, which may or may not have been stolen.

Anyway, the lovely email I’d spoken of earlier is as follows:

Dear Daniel,

I’ve just drafted a letter which I will be sending to you and [Moderator #1]
very shortly. This letter details the coming legalities against your website and

‘Princes.’ It states that I will be issuing your arents (since you are a minor,)
with a Cease-and-Desist order, via my
lawyer.

Daniel, I do not want to do this. But I have to if I cannot have it
publicly known on writingforums.org that ‘Princes’ is a plagiarist and a
copyright thief. I do not have a choice. Do you realize, that all my
work, 2 novels and another 4 scheduled and numerous short stories, besides
the 2 she stole, which contain those characters, will have been written
for nothing if I cannot publicly establish my copyright on the place I
have been libeled and defamed? This work spans over 8 years. I cannot
seek an agent nor a publisher until I am vindicated. This also means, in
a full lawsuit, libel and defamation and loss of future earnings will be a
factor. I don’t want to do this either. All I want to do is write my
stories. I used to write for fun. Now I feel like giving up. What’s the
point if I don’t even have the right to call my work my own without
somebody claiming it as theirs? But you know what? I’m a fighter. And I
can’t let this go.

We have also contacted another author (just the first we’ve found) who is
also being plagiarized by ‘Princes.’ She stole 2 of his poems. I’m sure
you’ll be hearing from him soon. It looks like you’re going to have an
awful mess on your hands because of this woman.

Not even her pic is her! Aparently, it’s a gothic porn star named Liz
Vicious! There is nothing ‘Princes’ will not steal. She is a charlatan
from head to toe.

Again, I don’t want you to be dragged into this. I have no desire to see
the end of your website. I’m sure it’s enjoyed by hundreds of people who
have nothing to do with any of this. I do not want to punish the masses
for the action of an individual.

I know you’ve probably been influenced by [Moderator #1] and [Moderator #2]. Believe
me, their advice is not in your best interest. [Moderator #1] claimed that
the site is his and not yours. [Moderator #2] refered to you as ’some kid with a
forum.’ This situation is very serious, Daniel, and it will not go away.

All I ask is for you to allow me the courtesy of stating my case to you,
in full. I was denied this yesterday and banned for no reason. Also, I
need reinstatement of my account so I can access the information from all
the Pms to pass onto my lawyer, should the need arise.

I do hope you will allow me to show you that I am sincere and that I am
the author of the stories plagiarized on writingforums.org. I deserve that
at the very least.

Again, Daniel, this situation will not go away. I have no option but to
deal with it to clear my name and save any future career I may have.

I wish you well, I really do, and I detest the fact that you being given
very bad advice from your older moderators who should know better than
this.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerest regards…

Now I realize it’s utter nosense and that she can’t do anything. Probably just hollow threats, anyway. You can’t send me a cease-and-desist act if there’s nothing for me to cease-and-desist (since the stories are no longer on the site).

Feel free to comment on the issue.