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Plagiarism,internet plagiarism,plagiarizing

Plagiarism ~ Back the Fuck Off my Intellectual Property

by Deborah Cruz

 Plagiarism is NOT what I had intended to post about today. Of course, I also didn’t plan on having my posts, blog title (written exactly as I write mine) and philosophy/mission stolen and passed off as someone else’s.  This is the third time in two weeks. I am irate.

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Plagiarism,internet plagiarism,plagiarizing

Photo Charlie S/Buzzle.com

Let me preface by telling you that I don’t subscribe to the “Imitation is the sincerest form of  flattery” mentality. I believe that if you steal my intellectual property (written verbatim or closely resembling), you are a thief and, as such, you should have to be held accountable. Personally, I feel like you should be strung up and beaten like a pinata but perhaps that’s just because I am the victim of this despicable crime. Have you not read my About page? Oh yeah, of course you have, I can tell because you have copied my philosophy ( and my posts) but perhaps you didn’t read all the way to the bottom. If you had, you would already know that I do not tolerate…

plagiarism.

So, I am going to drop a little knowledge on you, according to PlagiarismdotOrg (see how I just did that? I just gave credit to the site whose information I am about to share with you because it is their intellectual property, their hard work and their talent. Try it, I might like you! )

What is Plagiarism?

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense:

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarize” means

  • to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
  • to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
  • to commit literary theft
  • to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward. ( * I think if you put your name on it and not mine, if I wrote it…you lied!)

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).

All of the following are considered plagiarism:

  • turning in someone else’s work as your own
  • copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
  • failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
  • giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
  • changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
  • copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on “fair use” rules)

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. See our section on citation for more information on how to cite sources properly. (*all you had to do was give me credit for my work.Link to me.Mention me. Something!)

But instead, these people think that my idea, philosophy, blog title, brand and posts are free for them to steal. They are not. If you want to cite @TruthfulMommy or The TRUTH about Motherhood then do so appropriately, if not, I am respectfully asking that YOU BACK THE FUCK OFF MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY or I will be forced to take legal action.

  • If you ask me to write for you and I don’t and you “borrow” a post without permission, you are a plagiarist!
  • If I submit an article for consideration and you decline it but that very article shows up on your site credited to another author, you are a plagiarist.
  • If my post VERBATIM is on your site without MY permission, you are a plagiarist.
  • If you are a plagiarist, I hate you!

Plagiarism

*Here is one of the plagiarist post  https://t.co/YaD9qpQ compare it to my my post https://t.co/EgXgz9C . Verbatim!!! Feel free to leave comments to let them know how bloggers feel about plagiarist. I have sent them a legal notice to remove my post. We shall see. I will see what happens with the others before I reveal who they are.Plagiarism is NOT a victimless crime.

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27 comments

Coolwhipmom 2011/07/10 - 5:11 pm

Dude! That sucks. I hope that whoever’s been stealing your work gets the message. Plagarism sucks!

Reply
Bruna 2011/07/10 - 5:36 pm

Honestly, people who do this type of thing are shameless.

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Nancy Davis Kho 2011/07/10 - 6:05 pm

Hi – Plagiarism.org is a great place to get educated about content copyright infringement, as is this page on the Copyright Clearance Center site (https://www.copyright.com/content/cc3/en/toolbar/education.html) If you produce the content, you own it and deserve any and all commercial benefits deriving therefrom. (I’m writing a story on this for one of my clients right now so I’m all up to date and ready for a fight with content pirates.)

Basically under DCMA you can send them an immediate takedown notice – here’s a good sample: https://rising.blackstar.com/how-to-send-a-dmca-takedown-notice.html

If that doesn’t work, you can always go their advertisers or ad syndication network to let them know that their ads are appearing on the site of a content pirate. That can make them skedaddle fast.

You can also take the licensing approach as in: “Hey, how awesome that you are finding value in my content! I noticed we don’t have a license agreement in place so here’s one for you to sign, along with an invoice for $$$ for your use of my content.” Who knows, you may even get a new revenue stream out of it.

I hope it works out in your favor. Good luck –

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Dana K 2011/07/10 - 6:40 pm

This sucks so hard. I hope you get some restitution &/or at least have your work removed from the plagiaristic sites.

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A Mommy in the City 2011/07/10 - 8:31 pm

Oh no!!! Did you contact this person?

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Leighann 2011/07/10 - 8:55 pm

This pisses me off so much!
I had someone take my posts and put them on their site and link back to me BUT I didn’t give permission for them to do this.. even if they did link back to me.
They may have found a loop hole but I don’t like it.

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Alison@Mama Wants This 2011/07/10 - 9:32 pm

That’s just wrong, I hope the thief is caught and appropriate punishment doled out.

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Galit Breen 2011/07/10 - 10:46 pm

Bravo lady.

That is all.

{Except for calling out this best line ever: “Personally I feel like you should be strung up and beaten like a pinata.” OMG- love you!}

XO

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Missy | The Literal Mom 2011/07/10 - 10:47 pm

So you submitted an article to someone and they used it under their name? TOTALLY happened to me with my first blog – I had no idea what to do. THIS post would have been a good start!

I’m so sorry that happened – and I hope you get it resolved!

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Marta 2011/07/10 - 10:54 pm

That sucks, I”d be irate too. Curious to see if this person a) acknowledge what they did and apologizes, b) denies it or c) ignores you all together.

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Christine 2011/07/11 - 1:59 am

Ugh. What a bummer! Of course, now, I am totally curious as to who did this……
That sucks that you even had to write this post.

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Casey 2011/07/11 - 7:33 am

Amen, sister! Tell it like it is…and back it up with a throat punch and some legal action. Just curious, did they steal your kids and husband too? The whole thing is creepy and awful. I’m sure you need yet another thing to deal with added to your list. Hope you get some speedy resolution to this. If you’d like, give us the blog sight and I am sure many of us would be more than willing to comment on “her” posts that we all have seen here first. I don’t think it would be long before the public humiliation and shame kick in and she takes down your work….or, as you so eloquently put it, “backs the fuck off your intellectual property.” (see the quotes?!) Good luck and call on us if you need us. You can’t see us, but you’ve got an army of kick ass women who have your back.

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Jules 2011/07/11 - 8:11 am

That sucks hard core. I hope you find out who is doing it. If not, you can contact Google and have them remove the stuff. I had to do that in May.

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chrissy 2011/07/11 - 8:23 am

Oh no! Sorry you have to go thru this! I’ll be interested to hear more! Did you speak with this person? Yuck Yuck Yuck …sucky situation. What is wrong with people?

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Wired Wit 2011/07/11 - 11:11 am

Have you used the above illustration only as an example or has the author of Buzzle.com really imitated/plagiarised your content. I would advice you to officially send a mail to the website, so the copyright of your said article can be protected.

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Poppy 2011/07/11 - 1:52 pm

Did they take it down? How did you find it? We want DETAILS about this asshat.

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Carpool Goddess 2011/07/11 - 2:14 pm

So sorry this happened! Awful! Details please!!!

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Laura 2011/07/11 - 2:19 pm

Just a legal note – if you want to enforce your copyrights in a court of law, you MUST MUST MUST register them with the US Copyright Office. With a blog or other periodicals there is a way to do it so you are not having to register each and every entry. But it is absolutely a must to register your copyrights, otherwise you have no recourse under the Copyright Act. I only say this because a lot of people are not aware of it, and end up screwing themselves (and letting an infringer get away with it)…It is not terribly expensive to do, and if you make your money with your blog (or photos…that is another area where people fail to register their works) it is worth the investment in case you DO need to go after someone. As everyone saw with the music piracy cases the statutory damages per infringement are significant. So please, register your works.

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The Informal Martriarch 2011/07/11 - 11:14 pm

Sucks hunny. You can WhoIs their website and find out their info!

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Sarah 2011/07/11 - 11:15 pm

I never understood plagiarism in school… and I certainly don’t understand it in adulthood. Why on earth would someone want to pass someone else’s work as their own? That’s just stupidity.

I’m sorry that you’ve experienced the spasticity of someone’s idiocy. I hope it helped to vent… and that it STOPS.

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Tam 2011/07/12 - 1:54 am

So I commented on the post – It’s ‘awaiting moderation’ so will never see the light of day – but what i said is here

Responses to “Cnn World News”
Tam says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
July 12, 2011 at 12:47 am
Please remove the stolen portions of this article immediately! Do you consider us a bunch of fools, to believe that you wrote those words yourself? Disgusting conduct. I have linked to my blog – I had better never catch you stealing my content because I don’t share well.
For those interested – The REAL owner of these words wrote here – https://motherhoodthetruth.com/2011/02/scared-straight-parenting/

And I took a screen shot. Because that’s how I roll.

This shit PISSES ME RIGHT OFF.

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Jenni Chiu 2011/07/12 - 4:00 pm

What. The. Fuck.
I’m sorry, lady. Wish I could say this was rare.
Want I should go kick some people in the face?

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Jenni Chiu 2011/07/12 - 4:06 pm

I see that you have now been linked to. I am still available for the face kicking, though… because they still deserve it.

Reply
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Reply
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