Some time ago, I opened my email inbox and found a message from a reader alerting me to something that was starting. He said that he had just received an article that was sent to him and that it was the exact same article that he read earlier in the week in another publication. The problem was that the article was originally written by me, just someone took the article, changed the title and added his own biography. Fortunately for me, the person who wrote to me had read many of my articles, so he recognized my writing style and sensed that I was the original author. He very kindly sent me the article and the URL where the article was published. Imagine my surprise and anger to learn that someone would have the audacity to plagiarize an original article?
At first I allowed emotion to take over. I felt totally lost and couldn’t help but experience feelings of helplessness. I wanted to scream, but after about 20 minutes of confusion, I pushed aside my anger and fear and decided there had to be a way to rectify the situation. As a starting point, I went to the literary thief’s site to find out a little more about who he was and what kind of site he ran. I discovered that not only had he copied my article, but to add insult to injury, he had inserted the copyright both in my article and on his site. Talk about hypocrisy.
Figuring that my only recourse was to write him a letter and let him know I was onto him, I quickly composed a short note and alerted him to my knowledge of his copyright infringement. I did not receive an answer. Stewed for a while in my discomfort, I was finally inspired to do a Google search for information on plagiarism. How delighted I was when I found several valuable bits of information that immediately provided me with the tools that put me in the driver’s seat.
First, I came across an article by a gentleman named Michael Southon who had written an excellent article entitled “Is Someone Plagiarizing Your Work?” Apparently, Michael had been through something almost identical to my dilemma some time ago, except that his perpetrator had sent Michael his own article with the plagiarist’s name written as the author. Due to his situation, Michael wrote an article offering first-hand knowledge that I followed to the letter. He suggested that one immediately contact the plagiarist and ask him to remove the article immediately, as well as inform everyone he believes the article has been plagiarized. Michael went on to say that one should mention that if he did not remove the article from circulation, he would contact the web server as well as the moderators who distributed the article. I was so relieved to feel that message.
With that done, I set off to find out what else I could do to ease my distress and prevent this from happening again to me or anyone else. I wasn’t going to let it go until I noticed some results. So I went back to Google and soon found a website called APIC, Association for the Protection of Internet Copyright. I was so excited that there really was something like the Internet Police that I jumped for joy. APIC is a worldwide organization that protects people from those who steal material from others on the Internet. Fingers flying across the keyboard, I typed quickly and explained my situation. I had an answer in half an hour.
Along with my email above based on Michael’s wonderful suggestions and Steve’s support at APIC, I finally heard the culprit. In the email he made some lame apologies and excused that his intention was in no way plagiarism. He foolishly said that he had received the item with no name attached, so he just used it. He was beyond surprised that someone would just use an item because it showed up in his unnamed email box.
In any case, I felt it was important for my fellow writers and sisters to be aware that there is a lot of plagiarism on the internet and that it can hit you randomly. Fortunately that day, the Force was with me when someone so courteous and kindly notified me that my item had been stolen. I am very grateful to the person who alerted me and very grateful that they respected my work enough to make me aware of the situation. Since then, I have discovered hundreds of people brazenly copying articles and website content, word for word. When I find out about such plagiarism, I immediately take action and write a cease and desist letter to every person who copies my site. For the most part, most people who get caught delete the content. Unfortunately, there are still some people who ignore copyright laws and do not act honorably by using this amazing medium of communication.
I hope no one else is forced to take action regarding plagiarism, but just in case you find yourself in a similar situation. now you know there is valuable information available that can help you in a time of need.
