ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXHow to pursue copyright issues breached on Amazon and Kindle plagiarism
8 years ago - Nat Nollid
Hi
A friend has the following issue:
I spent 13 years in South Africa in my 20s/30s. I wrote a romance novel in 2011 under a female pen name. The story is mostly set in Zimbabwe and on the Zambezi river around the fabulous waterfall Victoria Falls. Mills & Boon turned it down, so I self-published it.
I read an article from the Independent about plagiarism becoming a common problem on Amazon. Thieves buy a novel and rehash it under a new title and self-publish it as their own work.
I never thought it would affect me!
Then 2 weeks ago I borrowed a library book by a best-selling young American writer. First time I've read him. His story is set in Zambia which is on the far bank of the Zambezi river from Zimbabwe. The action swings round to Victoria Falls and suddenly I'm reading bits of scenes and actions almost identical to what I put in my book. My ideas with similar, but not identical, wording to mine. My guess is, home in the US, he wanted more info about the Zambezi area, used a search engine which came up with my title, Zambezi Seduction.
The internet advice in these situations is to do something. Don't let it slide. Using another writer's ideas without acknowledging the source is theft.
So after a lot of thought I wrote to him today through his website. A calm but seriously worded letter pointing out the similarities and asking for his response. If he ignores me I'll go to his publisher. I'm not looking to sue. I just feel he should acknowledge the source or remove the material.
I don't want to give out his name now. But I'll tell you later after I've heard, or not heard, from him.
I copied his message to me and wondered if shooters had any views on this.
Can anyone help on sorting the copyright breach?
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8 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin
IP law is complex and costly - the way to add pressure is to get a respected IP lawyer to write to the publisher, and you will get attention quickly. You could try direct, but if he is with a big publisher, they'll know you're easy to brush off.
For a best-seller they will be unlikely to admit anything as that's the first stage in getting sued.
You will certainly need a report of the similarities, and you can probably do so faster and cheaper yourself (initially at least), and it makes sense to take that to your possible lawyer and say "I think I have a case against X - these are why I think it's a straight rip-off, the remedy I would like should be ... - is it worth it?"
Response from 8 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin SHOW
8 years ago - Nat Nollid
Thanks Paddy , will pass on advice.
Response from 8 years ago - Nat Nollid SHOW
8 years ago - Stephen Potts
Alleged plagiarism ( as in Harry Potter) seems common but cases rarely succeed as you cannot copyright an idea, only the expression of an idea. To prove it you have to show that enough of the book is sufficiently similar that plagiarism is the only explanation, and this is a high bar. "My ideas with similar but not identical wording" will probably not cross it.
There is software which can cross-check texts for similar or identical passages. Some academic institutions use a programme called Turnitin to assess plagiarism in student essays. I don't think it is available to individual users but there will be similar programmes which are.
Response from 8 years ago - Stephen Potts SHOW
8 years ago - Dan Selakovich
You got off easy. Through Google Play, pirates are taking entire books, putting a pen name on them, then reposting to Google Play. The exact same book at a lower price. Google did nothing about it until some famous authors were pirated, and even then, the problem still exists. If google or Amazon can make money, they don't much care about the legalities.
The problem you're up against is that the "author" changed your work. My advice: out promote him.
Response from 8 years ago - Dan Selakovich SHOW
8 years ago - Nat Nollid
Thanks guys have passed on advice.
Response from 8 years ago - Nat Nollid SHOW
8 years ago - Bob Eckhard
Hi Nat, I read an article about a couple of Irish writers who had written several years ago a series of police novels based around a detective - their intention was to come back to it at some point but were alerted by a fan to an author whose ebook character was very similar to their hero. Checking it out they found their (altered) novel doing incredibly well on the Internet. Somehow they managed to track the female author down to an email address and it seemed she was part of a disparate collective that subsidise their living. I think she apologised but the outcome was she'd be unlikely to stop doing what was paying the bills.
Response from 8 years ago - Bob Eckhard SHOW
8 years ago - Dan Selakovich
Hi Bob. I don't doubt this at all. There is a whole industry of Amazon ebook "publishers" that hire ghost writers at one cent a word. That's all they get. No royalties at all. If that doesn't open the door to theft, I don't know what does.
Response from 8 years ago - Dan Selakovich SHOW