Copyright issues!

remove tomothecat's writing from your blog, NOW!!!
or we'll be doing some removing of our own...

I posted a comment, and complained to the hosts, but as it's pirate bay...I'm not hopeful tbh.


You need professional advice I think.

Lol, and he thinks pirate bay will carry the can for him! hahahahaha! Sucker.

I already did do.

They say they won't take down anything that's legal, but ofc copyright is law...I doubt they'll do anything but it's worth a try.

Should I post this link for him?

try to remember everywhere you've posted your stuff:
remove it or ask the hosts to do so.
If they don't then contact the servers and complain there.

Good luck!

Like Heron suggested, I suggest removing all your online writing from sites like fanfiction.net, where anyone can access them. Is it really worth this hassle??

I'm contacting piratebay on your behalf, anyway.

Good lord, after reading that blog I would say that the thief is a weirdo who thrives on attention. He's probably elated that someone is actually visiting his blog and interacting with him (since he no doubt hides in a dark cave and can't bare any kind of real contact other than his keyboard). This is the only way he can gain a sense of power, so he is basking in it. A sick, sad individual...I would almost feel sorry for him if he weren't also a low-life, no-life thief.

This has not come at a good time. I've just started on a manic phase ( bipolar) and I have a serious urge to indulge in some creative insults to do with lack of talent other than growing *rudeword*

*straps self down*

I couldn't help the goats thing, it just came out. *hands head in shame*

tomothecat said:

Thanks for the support I'm going to keep my writing up for now as proof I had it before anyone who might try to pass it off as their own. I'm a little baffled that anyone would want to lay claim in my crappy fics. But crappy or not, they are mine, and people, for some reason or another, do enjoy commenting to let me know they like them. It's unfair to have that abuser by this guy.

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Yeah, definitely leave it up for now...also, make sure there's a record of your correspondence with him, in case you need extra proof that he's a dickwad.

It does suck that you should have to pull your stuff just to keep people from stealing it. But when stealing is easy, lazy bastards will take steal.

Tomothecat...

Crappy fic or not, there's good reason to stay on this.
You're not just standing up for yourself, you're standing up for all writers. Each instance of unchallenged lifting, borrowing, sharing (or whatever the euphemism of the day is) further cements the perception of the internet as some giant free article orchard, where words grow on trees and everything is free for the picking.

OSPs and ISPs enjoy limited immunity from prosecution for copyright infringement by their users under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. HOWEVER...in order to claim safe harbor, they must promptly block access to or remove material that violates copyright when informed of the infringement. There are template forms that you can submit, but really, all you need do is cite the infringement, the specific URL where it appears illegally, and the offender's refusal to remove. No long dissertation needed. Just the facts. Short and sweet. Include a statement to the effect that you attest under the penalty of perjury that this is your work and permission has not been granted to use the material. Cite your copyright, ISBN and page number, etc if you have it.

It's a bother to jump through the hoops, but really not a big deal and requires no lawyers. Typically, servers are very attentive to these notices, because they're the ones with the comparatively deep pockets (compared to the sticky-fingered blogger living in his parents' basement) when a lawyer comes knocking. Failure to immediately respond when notified removes the safe harbor provision of DCMA.

Pardon for being dense, but what is DCMA ( i tried googling and got the Devon Child Minding association, among lots of other things)

If it's a US law, well pirate bay are in sweden. Although what pirate bay allows is often illegal there too, it's difficult to prosecute ( however thier 'legal advisor' is listed as a law student. ) There is an ongoing case in the UK at the mo about copyright and pirate bay

Ok place your bets. 45 and still lives with Mommy?

54... in his old room

DCMA ... Digitial Copyright M-word Act?

DCMA evidently means Dyslexic Copyright Millenium Act.

Actually, it's DMCA , Digitial Millenium Copyright Act.

I'd edit my dyslexic post, but then your responses wouldn't make any sense. So I'll leave it up as an embarrassing but valuable cautionary tale: PROOFREAD!

Ah, well tis differnt over this side o' pond. Still with luck they'll get screwed.

Man, tomo, this guy is a moron. And so is "your statement sucks", who is probably the guy under a different name.

Just gefrom his IP address personal info that the host has. Explain to the host that you are about to take matters to the courts, maybe getting a cease & desist order on said blogger, and see what the host says.

Eh, couldn't hurt.

You can send a DMCA complaint, with a notice of takedown.

Look at the step by step instructions in the "Stop Internet Plagiarism" menu on the far right of this Website.

Notice that stock letters are there as samples.

It's not really a good idea to encourage a mob mentality or ask people to flood his blog. Stay on the high road. You've done the polite thing, which was send a letter asking him to remove it from his site. That was met with resistance, to put it politely. The next step is to submit a formal takedown notice. It would be surprising if this did not result in the preferred course of action.

The important thing is to remain civil, to keep to the legitimate courses of action. If you encourage mob action or attacks on his blog, this reflects poorly on you. It will create a reputation that will return to bite you at the most inopportune moments.

tomothecat said:

Yesterday I posted a thread about someone posting my original writing on their website without asking... Well there's ANOTHER ONE. WTF? And he's refusing to remove it. His blog sibyl.baywords.com is nothing if not an archive of MY writing. If an agent ever wants me to remove my writing from the internet I'm f***ed by idiots like this who steal it. I asked him to remove it, and his response was "no. you are being arrogant and unreasonable." He's a total attention-hungry piece of work. He's calling me a facist for trying to control how my ideas are construed or something. I have no idea what political tirade he's going off on, I just want my stuff gone from this lunatic's blog.

What can I do to fry this b*stard? I've contacted the server but I don't know if they'll respond. Can I sue?

In the meantime, I'd appreciate people commenting and asking him to remove it. Maybe he'll take an angry mob seriously. [Emphasis added.]

AND please go here: http://thepiratebay.org/contact to contact pirate bay about this issue.. if enough of us pool together, maybe they'll take it seriously and remove his blog so I don't have to get a lawyer.

ETA: just to piss me off further, he decided to upload my writing as a downloadable torrent "and there's nothing anyone can do about it" he says.

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Yeah, you did, Tomo. And people who like and support you responded.

It doesn't really matter what his responses are. That's on him. Not on you. The only person's actions that you can control are your own; the only person's actions that will reflect on you are your own.

Stealing your work is a really horrible thing. Having to deal with it is annoying and time consuming. I know. It's worse that he responds so harshly when you ask him to take it down. But that's all on him. Follow the steps. Use the links and templates Medievalist has provided. It will come back to him and your work will be removed. It just takes patience and following the prescribed steps.

Neither a lawyer or outsiders intervening on your behalf are needed at this point. All you need is the time and patience to go through the process takedown process.

IdiotsRUs said:

Ok place your bets. 45 and still lives with Mommy?

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13, white and GANGSTA!

Oh, and I love this quote:

It is completely unreasonable for you to assume TOTAL CONTROL over your ideas.

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tom, the thing is that the copyright-holder, you, is the only one who can assert the claim that your rights have been violated. None of us can do that for you.

Follow the links Medeivalist gave you and follow the steps.

tomothecat said:

TPCSWR-

I LOVE your T.S. Eliot quote (he's my 20th century literary dreamboat *swoony sigh*)

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Uh, I've never read anything of his. If you're talking about the actual quote, that was one of the blogger's comments.

I have to ask a question that's been bugging me since this thread came up. I'm not trying to spark a flame war, polarize sides, or rouse rabble in any way . . . it's just something that, hopefully, someone can explain to me sans vitriol. First, let me make sure I'm on the right page: this is a work of fan-fiction you wrote, based on an anime series (?), that you posted online; then, some asshat took it, posted it elsewhere without your permission, and now refuses to take it down. Right?

Okay. Here's my question (user goes into full-flinch-mode, preparing for a crap-storm . . . hey, I read Lee Goldberg's blog enough to know when to duck): before you posted it online initially, did you secure the IP holders' permission, assuming you're using trademarked characters you don't own?

Plagarism stinks from any quarter;, regardless, the guy who posted your story without permission should be ashamed. Is this common in the fan-fic community?

Scott, whose Native American name is Walks-On-Eggshells