Plagiarism and Literoica

[MelancholicDreamer]

I am sorry that you consider that Literotica has failed you.
However it is a fact of the internet that anyone can copy your posted story at any time. You own the copyright but only you can take action against someone who steals your work.

Literotica does try to prevent plaigarism but they do not have the resources to pursue everyone who downloads from this site. Even commercial sites (and this is a FREE site) fail to stop copying of their stories, pictures and videos. There is a limit to what can be done to protect intellectual property posted where it can be seen.
Og

I'm sorry but I have to contradict. Of course you are right nobody can stop the theft of stories from here and publish them elsewhere.
But plagerism on the same board can and must be prevented. Ongoing plagerism would be the death of all publishing here.
Thats my opinion.

 

[Guest]

This is the internet.

Anyone with half-assed computer skills can copy a story or picture and claim it as their own.

Unfortunately.

I have had stories stolen 4 times (to my knowledge) since I began submitting to Lit. There are probably more than that now, actually, but I haven't done a search lately to locate possible new thefts.

In each case I quickly sent a PM to Laurel - NOT an email. She receives multitudes of emails daily and I am certain things can become overlooked.

In the PM I included my story, my posting date, a link to the plagiarized version and any other information I had gathered about the offending site owner. The Whois search is excellent, by the way. It yields owners and addresses (not just URL, but also geographical) for any and all sites.

BUT - these are my stories. I take responsibility, too, so I also wrote the offending site owner. This email was a bit more to the point. I simply stated that my stories were appearing on their site without my permission, they had been stolen from Lit, and that if they were not removed I would take appropriate action.

In each case, after some time, the situation was resolved.

I understand how you feel. The first time this happened to me I was so angry I searched online for hours, trying to locate every possible wrongdoer. Drove my husband nuts.

Now it's almost an accepted part of posting stories online, unfortunately. And it still angers me. But it doesn't mean I allow the theft to continue once discovered.

Woe to the asshole who steals anything from me.

But there are thousands of stories posted on Lit, and there have been relatively few complaints such as yours. I just hope you give Laurel some time before you pass final judgment.

 

[Lisa Denton]

Sadly Im not N8Dreams co-author as you might believe, but I know for sure, the plagerized story was only posted in German.

It might be on some interest for you that in German erotic writng is much more difficult and more sophisticated than in English. German is in terrible lack of pretty words for all things refferring to beautiful sex (dont laugh) and a translation from English to German is a very difficult task if you want to keep the atmosphere.

It turns out to me that N8Dreams has recognized just this problem very well and is working on it, shown by an other essay she submitted in German (How to do) dealing with the difficulties of German and English language in erotic poetry.

N8Dreams has invented new pictures and new terms for bringing her story from English to German. Just these special pictures and phrases got stolen and I'm pretty convinced this is the point that made her so wild.
Any translation back to English of these terms and pictures will never work.

I didn't laugh.

I was only hoping that I could look into it and help by contacting Laurel and Manu, I speak with them on occasion via PM and e-mail and they are always nice and helpful.

Since I don't read or write german I cannot actually see the plagerism, I take N8Dreams word for it that it is there. It is surprising that that other author copied it and posted it as a section of a long story. It is probably as Colly said, that they are waiting to hear what that author says. The other author will probably admit it and delete the story but it is unfortunate that N8Dreams did not get a message saying it is being investigated. Again, I think the language thing is causing the delay in getting it sorted out.

 

[Lisa Denton]

.

Woe to the asshole who steals anything from me.

Uh, if you are talking about thost panties I was gonna give them back.

 

[fieryjen]

I hope things work out for the best for you.

I have to agree, this story really is extraordinary in its use of German. It's so difficult to do erotic writing in german, but this is beautiful!

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Ogg, how do I make the logical leap from, "That has not stopped my work being stolen and posted on thousands of sites around the world. I am surprised where some of it is posted but I do not have the power or money to pursue every theft." to the boast about the lowest AH story score.

If you know of sites that actually want low-scoring stuff I think you should share with us needy others. Nobody steals my stuff-I'm getting a complex.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Sorry to be picky, it's PLAGIARISM. (Nasty whatever the spelling)

 

[Guest]

Uh, if you are talking about thost panties I was gonna give them back.

You gorgeous slut.

I have a pair of your panties too, if you remember correctly.

Or maybe you don't remember - that evening we did get pretty wild!

 

[Boota]

As far as I can tell no one has ever tried to steal my story from Lit. I'm almost offended!

I was aware that when I posted my story here that it would be fair game of a sort for anyone who wanted to take it. As long as I am always given the credit and there is no money changing hands directly for it, I probably wouldn't have a problem with it. Any other time my story has been used I have been asked by the person wanting to use it and I have always said yes. However, if I believe I was being done wrong, I would fight very fiercely for my work.

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, how do I make the logical leap from, "That has not stopped my work being stolen and posted on thousands of sites around the world. I am surprised where some of it is posted but I do not have the power or money to pursue every theft." to the boast about the lowest AH story score.

If you know of sites that actually want low-scoring stuff I think you should share with us needy others. Nobody steals my stuff-I'm getting a complex.

I have no idea WHY they do it.

It is easy for me to trace them because my username is unique and I include a copyright notice in almost all of my stories.

My work is posted on many pay sites. I have only authorised some Yahoo Groups, Literotica and Barnburner magazine to use my stories.

WHY a Japanese anal fisting site would want some of my mild stuff? I don't know.

I have over 100 stories so there are many to steal. Including Yahoo I have been posting for nearly 5 years so the thieves have had a long time to act.

As far as I know no one has attempted to plagiarise my work AND post it back to Literotica. Why should they?

Og

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Ogg, oh sweetie, I would love to post your hedgehogs under my name. I'm so jealous.

What are we talking about here. We post our efforts without wanting a return. Why, exactly, are we cross when they get spread further? Is it that deadly sin, pride?

 

[oggbashan]

Ogg, oh sweetie, I would love to post your hedgehogs under my name. I'm so jealous.

What are we talking about here. We post our efforts without wanting a return. Why, exactly, are we cross when they get spread further? Is it that deadly sin, pride?

The difference is between your work being spread under your name and someone else claiming that they WROTE your story. The latter is plagiarism and that is what this thread started about.

The courteous thing to do if you like someone's work is to post a link and say 'Look what I found. If you go to Literotica you can read this.'

The theft is when someone takes your story, removes your name, perhaps does a search and replace on character names, and then posts it as their own original work.

There are shades of grey. Fan-fiction is one of them. You are taking someone else's characters and writing your own story using those characters. Someone else's story might inspire you to write one of your own. I have done that with my Christmas Fairy chapters. The original idea was from a short story 'The Bridge' by Piers Anthony. I acknowledge my debt in the posted story. That is like musicians composing 'Variations on a theme by ...'.

Translation is another grey area. If you are employed by the original author you are just that, an employee, with no rights. If you do a translation without permission you cannot claim copyright of the original work. You may have copyright of the translation but you cannot use that copyright without the original author's consent. If you translate someone's story and then claim that the translation is original in that language - that is plagiarism.

Plagiarism in the same language is easy to detect. Plagarism in another language is more difficult to prove. So many stories are on the same basic themes and plots. I have translated some stories from German into English with the author's consent. To be intelligible in English the story is better if retold rather than translated. I know (and say) that the story isn't my original. The story is posted, never on Lit nor anywhere away from the original, as 'X's story rewritten in English by Og'. The result is 90% by X and 10% by Og. On one occasion I translated a story from English to German and the author translated my English back into German. She thought that the end result was better than her original. Perhaps it was. Perhaps the process removed both her flaws and mine.

I don't object to people saying 'Look at Og's work'. I do object to people making money out of my work by putting the stories on pay-to-view sites. I should think some of their customers might be disappointed if they find my hedgehogs on a teenage-cum-slut-whores site.

Og

 

[dAYoFdREAMING]

A happy Ending

First of all we would like to thank Laurel and the Lit’ team for doing the right thing and removing the plagiarized work from Literotica.

Secondly, we would like to thank the other authors for taking part in this thread. Even though some of them seemed to drift off the subject into more important things like panties.

We are also now aware of the loyalty that you, the authors, have for this site and it’s owners.

Before we close this thread perhaps we could talk Laurel into explaining to us what steps they do go through in checking for plagiarized work on this site. Instead of just assuming the procedure, as some of you did.

Last and by no means least, let us make a pact to interact in a discussion similar to this on the cons of plagiarism, annually in this forum.

Thanks for your support.

N8Dreams & DayofDreaming

P.S. Stay tuned for our next effort. Will soon come up!

 

[Lisa Denton]

First of all we would like to thank Laurel and the Lit’ team for doing the right thing and removing the plagiarized work from Literotica.

Secondly, we would like to thank the other authors for taking part in this thread. Even though some of them seemed to drift off the subject into more important things like panties.

We are also now aware of the loyalty that you, the authors, have for this site and it’s owners.

Before we close this thread perhaps we could talk Laurel into explaining to us what steps they do go through in checking for plagiarized work on this site. Instead of just assuming the procedure, as some of you did.

Last and by no means least, let us make a pact to interact in a discussion similar to this on the cons of plagiarism, annually in this forum.

Thanks for your support.

N8Dreams & DayofDreaming

P.S. Stay tuned for our next effort. Will soon come up!

As one of those who drifted off, thank you for understanding, the thought of sweetsubsarahh's panties is sometimes irresistable and I fell into her spell.

I am also very glad that Laurel and you worked it out and got the plagiarized story removed.

Really, thank you for understanding that while I may have drifted from the subject I really was trying to help and am overjoyed that your work is now rightfully ONLY known as yours!!!!!!!

 

[oggbashan]

...Last and by no means least, let us make a pact to interact in a discussion similar to this on the cons of plagiarism, annually in this forum.

N8Dreams & DayofDreaming

P.S. Stay tuned for our next effort. Will soon come up!

Unfortunately we have discussions in the AH about plagiarism more frequently than annually. We are against plagarism in Literotica except when we do it ourselves with fan-fiction.

As for diverting into side issues such as panties - that is a feature of the Author's Hangout. We do not always stick to the point of any thread because the AH is an anarchic place. Some of consider panties to be very important.

And I haven't even mentioned sheep which can be more important.

Og

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . .
A) The story will be the author’s work.
B) The Publisher will protect the author’s work.

That’s why we publish through Literotica.
. . . .

I beg to differ.

We publish, because Laurel will accept our manuscripts, and when posted, they will have a VAST audience.

That Laurel goes to the extra effort of trying to protect the copyrights of the authors published here, is a bonus.

It is something I have not seen happen much at other sites I have visited.

 

[Lisa Denton]

Unfortunately we have discussions in the AH about plagiarism more frequently than annually. We are against plagarism in Literotica except when we do it ourselves with fan-fiction.

As for diverting into side issues such as panties - that is a feature of the Author's Hangout. We do not always stick to the point of any thread because the AH is an anarchic place. Some of consider panties to be very important.

And I haven't even mentioned sheep which can be more important.

Og

Og!!!!! I am still engrossed in the data we gleaned from our spider studies.

Did you already begin the scientific studies of the possibilities of communications with lesbian sheeps and you forgot to tell me?

Remember we are a team, we have to work together, plus you might get one of the spiders squished while you are busy with a sheep, so to speak, unless I am there to help, and of course film the encounter for the next Scientific Quarterly Magazine article.

I will prepare my scientific instruments and toys and stuff for our next breakthrough.

I think communicating lesbian sheeps could be an amazin field of study. Are these real sheeps or cloned lesbian sheeps named Dolly?

Get back to me, I will be at Og and Lisa's Scientific Headquarters.




P.S. To the nice persons who started this thread, we sometimes assume it is o.k. to drift off topic on threads where the topic has been settled, thanks in advance for understanding, kiss, kiss, Lisa.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . Did you already begin the scientific studies of the possibilities of communications with lesbian sheeps and you forgot to tell me?. . .

You guys best get busy. There are others at work in similar fields.

http://www.offthemarkcartoons.com/cartoons/2001-03-12.gif