[Fanfic site] Royal Academy of Bards

[Unimportant]

Does an author who has posted her story on a free-to-view website and who finds her story plagiarised on the same site several years later have any recourse, if the website refuses to act?

The website managers (at the Royal Academy of Bards, a Xena fanfic/original fic site) have compared the stories and say the similarities in storyline and prose are just coincidences (I've put a few examples below). Is there anything the author can do at this point that doesn't involve an expensive lawsuit?

I'm not the author, but I get boiling mad about plagiarism and would like to help her if I can. Any advice much appreciated.



****
"You must accept the child as yours and raise it as your own," she
said, her voice stilted and emotionless. "You must announce the
pregnancy and welcome it."
"It's all so simple to you, isn't it?" Anton said, feeling a hot burst
of anger. "Just pretend that everything's fine and good and move on...
do you have any idea how this feels?"

"You must accept the child and raise it as your own," he said, his
voice emotionless. "You will announce the pregnancy and welcome it."
"'Tis all so simple to you, isn't it?" She snapped, heart broken from
the news. "Do you have any idea how this feels, father?

****

Her mind churned as she began to recount the many things she'd
always found curious or odd about Anton. But as she considered the
revelations and truths, she also considered how many lies and
falsities she'd been force-fed for so long.

Her mind churned as she began to recount the many things she had
always found odd or curious about Ripley. As she considered the
revelations and truths, she also considered just how many lies and
falsities she had been force-fed.

***

How could Anton carry-on with these women and behave in such a
despicable way? Gwynneth knew that it wasn't uncommon for Lords
and noblemen to do whatever they pleased with whomever they
desired, but as far as she knew, Anton had never done this.

How could Ripley carry-on with these women and behave in such a
despicable way in front of her? Kelsey wasn't naive, she knew that it
wasn't uncommon for noble men and Kings to do whatever they
pleased with whomever they desired, but as far as she knew Ripley
had never done this.

****

Every time she went to visit Anton, she'd stare at him, waiting for
some great flood of emotion to overwhelm her and wash away the
anger and doubts she had. But that never happened.

Every time she saw Ripley around the castle, she'd stare at him,
waiting for a great flood of emotion to overwhelm her and wash
away the anger and doubt that had settled in. It never happened.

 

[M.R.J. Le Blanc]

Maybe contact the site provider, show them this and tell them the website in question is posting plagerized content which they refuse to take down?

 

[BenPanced]

I don't even know if there's any recourse beyond having it removed since it's fanfic. An intellectual property lawyer could argue both parties are plagiarizing.

 

[herdon]

I don't even know if there's any recourse beyond having it removed since it's fanfic. An intellectual property lawyer could argue both parties are plagiarizing.

The lawyer would have a difficult time proving plagiarism, but he could definitely claim copyright to the works.

 

[Julie Worth]

Here are a couple of resources on fan fiction and copyright, and on take down notices.

 

[Brindle Chase]

I don't even know if there's any recourse beyond having it removed since it's fanfic. An intellectual property lawyer could argue both parties are plagiarizing.

Correct. That's one of the pitfalls of fanfic. Unless you have permission from the copyright owner to copyright your material of their world/characters, (Example: Alan Dean Foster writing star wars novels with permission from George Lucas)... you really have little recourse.

try: www.copyright.gov ... however, you could argue that since neither you, nor your neighborhood word thief owns the copyright to the characters/world portrayed, both should be removed for copyright violation, since permission was not granted in either case.

If that doesnt work, you could contact the legal department for Xena and report it and let them have their lawyers take care of it.

 

[Parametric]

Maybe the folks at stop_plagiarism, who focus on plagiarism in fanfiction, could help?

 

[Cyia]

This happened to someone I know who posts on FFn. It was a direct copy of a posted story for a (defunct) TV show with the characters cut and pasted to fit a manga. The site runners there pulled the copy.

The site should have dates on both stories for when they were posted. If your friend's fic went up first it would be easy to check. However, if the site doesn't choose to do anything about it, then the only thing you can do is call the person on the plagerism if there's a comment section available for the story. Post there what you posted here and link back to the original.

 

[Unimportant]

These particular stories aren't fanfic, they're original fic (or at least the first one is!) but because the site also posts fanfic I'm guessing they're not subject to DMCA.

Thanks for the suggestions, y'all!