My website has been plagiarized - what to do? [Archive]

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snowzilla

08-23-2006, 07:24 PM

I have run into a sticky situation, and instead of hitting "send" on the email I wrote (in anger), I've decided the wiser thing to do is to turn to the wise ladies of CC to help me decide what course of action to take.

I am a professional wedding planner, and my website was written, designed and published by ME. I was very careful not to borrow any phrases from other wedding planners when I wrote my material, as difficult as it was when looking for inspiration. I made sure that nothing I wrote was the same as anybody else's, especially anybody else in the same country as me.

Fast forward to a few months ago - I had a graduate of the professional designation course (where I serve as a guest speaker) come and do a volunteer job with me, doing decor for a large corporate event, in exchange for pictures for her portfolio. She did a decent job, we went our separate ways (as it is contract work).

Fast forward to today. I have lost my regular assistant, who has graduated from college and is pursuing her chosen career (which is not wedding planning) and I require somebody new for a very busy fall season. I posted an ad on the messageboard maintained by the professional association mentioned above. I got an email today from the former assistant, letting me know that she has started her own business, has a new website, but would like to work for me to continue to build her own business.

Well, I go to her website, and without even having to open my own webpage, I find myself reading my own words. So I open my page in a second browser, and read them line by line, side by side - she has blatantly plagiarized not just sentences, but entire paragraphs of my website.

I'm fuming, obviously. For starters, the wedding planning industry in this part of the country is very tough, and in this city, it's cut-throat. I am doing very well, considering the short amount of time I've been at this (2.5 years), but many of the people who took their certification with me have done nothing. I don't even know what to say to her. To play my own devil's advocate - I know I could be flattered that she obviously felt that I worded it in a way that seemed good enough to her to help her own business along. But that doesn't make me feel better. In fact, it angers me to think that she's using my words to further her business, which is directly competing with my own.

Thoughts? Commiseration? Advice? Tall, stiff drink in a fancy glass with an umbrella and maybe a cherry on a plastic sword?

jnettie

08-23-2006, 07:36 PM

I can completely understand why you'd be upset, but I have a feeling that this woman doesn't even understand that what she did was wrong. If she did, she wouldn't have contacted you to work with you again and she wouldn't have told you about her business and website.

DH's number one problem with his students, college level, mostly Juniors and Seniors, is plagerism. Often, they don't even know why what they are doing is wrong. And with the internet, it's just so easy now.

I think your best course of action is to explain to her that what she did was wrong and you'd like her to re-write her website in her own words, not yours. I get the feeling that she admired you and that's why she did it, and will most likely be very embarrased to find she's upset you. But, she wants to work with you again, so clearly she didn't do it out of malice.

Good luck! Hopefully she'll happily re-word her website, and you can use her as your assistant again.

Sophia

08-23-2006, 07:37 PM

snowzilla

08-23-2006, 07:50 PM

Wow, I don't know what to say. I can't believe she stole your words and actually contacted and told you she has a website. Does she think palgiarism is ok? Not sure what to suggest--I'd be very angry if I were in your shoes. I'm sure someone will come along with some level--headed suggestions momentarily. Sorry you're having to deal with this.

LOL - yup - how you're feeling is how I'm feeling, times ten. But I do get, as jnettie has so level-headedly suggested ;) that she might have done it out of admiration. But still! I really want her to know that what she did is wrong. And honestly, I have zero intentions of hiring her as an assistant after this.

I think your best course of action is to explain to her that what she did was wrong and you'd like her to re-write her website in her own words, not yours. I get the feeling that she admired you and that's why she did it, and will most likely be very embarrased to find she's upset you. But, she wants to work with you again, so clearly she didn't do it out of malice.

I hear you. The more I calm down about this, the more I think that she must not GET that doing this is wrong, or she wouldn't have been dumb enough to send me her link, saying, "Here, have a look!". But I'll still have to calm down before communicating with her - I'm still too ticked off to be understanding.

ejs

08-23-2006, 07:52 PM

Does it count as plagiarism if the original work isn't copyrighted? I have no idea if your web site is copyrighted or not; I was just wondering about what counts as plagiarism.

I do think you should contact the girl and calmly explain your concerns. See what she has to say about it and go from there.

thompso2

08-23-2006, 08:04 PM

ejs, her website was probably copyrighted upon its creation -- see here (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html) for an explanation.

Snowzilla, in your situation, I think I would contact her and let her know that her site inadvertently violates your copyright and you'd appreciate it if she would change the wording.

If you don't have a copyright notice on your website, you might want to add one, just to make the point clear. I've seen language like this on other webpages, which might make someone think twice about snagging your text:

"Copyright 2003 [or whatever year you first created the webpage]-2006, [Snowzilla], all rights reserved. Duplication, distribution, or republication of the content of this website, whether in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of [Snowzilla] is strictly prohibited."

NB: Though I am a lawyer, this isn't intended to be legal advice. If you want to know more about your rights under copyright, an intellectual property lawyer can help.

ejs

08-23-2006, 08:06 PM

In your situation, I think I would contact her and let her know that her site inadvertently violates your copyright and you'd appreciate it if she would change the wording (see here (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hsc) for an explanation).

If you don't have a copyright notice on your website, you might want to add one, just to make the point clear. I've seen language like this, which might make someone think twice about snagging your text:

"Copyright 2003 [or whatever year you first created the webpage]-2006, [Snowzilla], all rights reserved. Duplication, distribution, or republication of the content of this website, whether in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of [Snowzilla] is strictly prohibited."

NB: Though I am a lawyer, this isn't intended to be legal advice. If you want to know more about your rights under copyright, an intellectual property lawyer can help.

When I've done copyright work, I always had to file it with a government office. I don't think that you can just declare something to be copyrighted.

eta: never mind. I apparently only did registered copyright work.

thompso2

08-23-2006, 08:09 PM

eta: neer mind. I apparently only did registered copyright work.

Registering your work definitely gives it more protection, but it might not be practical for something that's updated frequently.

lawyerlee

08-23-2006, 08:10 PM

If I was in your shoes, I'd do as jnettie suggested. At this point I wouldn't threaten to take legal action (not that I have any reason to think you are considering it). But I would keep some records for myself in case she doesn't do the right thing and take your content off her website. I'd take screenshots of both pages, write down the time and day of any phone conversations, and keep copies of any letters you decide to send. Good luck. I've been through a similar experience in the past, and it really pissed me off. It doesn't feel okay at all to have someone steal your hard work and claim it for her own. :(

DiscoDiva

08-23-2006, 08:14 PM

snowzilla

08-23-2006, 08:36 PM

Thank you ladies. I don't intend to pursue this as a legal matter, and I certainly hope that it wouldn't come to that. I've taken screen shots of all pages on her site, and of mine - the instances of plagiarism are across nearly every page that includes text. I keep reminding myself that she must not understand why this is wrong, but it isn't helping much. ;)

I've drafted a short email to her saying congrats on the new business, however, I've been to your site and I am quite disappointed to see much of my material, etc. I have made copies of both of our websites in the hopes that I will see the appropriate changes made to your own website in the near future.

I did something stupid though. (I KNEW I should have stepped away from the computer!) Because I maintain my own site, I went in and changed some of MY wording, because I didn't want potential clients in our area to compare our sites and think that I possibly ripped off HER material. Stupid! So I guess I have to say something in my email to the effect of: "I have made some changes to my own website to alleviate the chance that potential clients may see our webpages and erroneously think that I have plagiarized your material" - bah. I should have just waited, but I can't go back now. I was thinking with my emotions, instead of my brain. :( I did stop myself from making changes to everything, including one blatant paragraph that she copied verbatim, but I really hooped myself by acting too quickly.

ETA: And you know, I was thinking. I could care less if it was someone in Timbuktu, or even someone in the next city over. I'd be annoyed, but not even close to how annoyed I am that it was done by someone who will be a direct competitor to me, and who has enjoyed the opportunity to portfolio-build with me.

Katy

08-23-2006, 10:38 PM

Snowzilla, contact Emilie (the mod) since she also had a similar thing happen to her planning site. I know she now regularly uses a (free) service that searches the web for matching text. And man, that sucks! I'd do everything within my powers to get her to back the F'off!

DiscoDiva

08-24-2006, 06:37 AM

snowzilla

08-24-2006, 07:17 AM

DD, I pm'd you.

I will be watching my email today to see if I get a response back from the assistant. I'm also thinking about contacting the professional organization that we both belong to, and mentioning this to them. I think that it is something they should be teaching when new people are taking the course. They cover all other aspects of small business start-up, including how to make your own webpage - I think a mention of "don't plagiarize - especially your fellow alumni!" is in order.

Katy

08-24-2006, 08:51 AM

Snow, I think contacting the professional organization is a great idea!

jnettie

08-24-2006, 11:26 AM

I think you've got a great course of action going for you!

Regardless of whether she realized what she was doing was wrong, there should still be reprocussions. She must know she has to change her wording, and definately let her know that she's loosing the opportunity to work with you again because of what she did.

I so get how hard it must be for you to not be angry at her! I'd be pissed, too! And now, I'm off to add copyright wording to my own website....

lawyerlee

08-24-2006, 11:44 AM

If you're adding language to your website, you might consider going with a Creative Commons license:

Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/)

It is a great alternative to traditional copyright. :)

jnettie

08-24-2006, 11:57 AM

lawyerlee, I've heard of that before! I kind of like it as an alternative to existing copyright law. We downloaded an album from a band that used this form of copyright.

dionysia

08-24-2006, 11:58 AM

In the future, you may want to keep local copies of your website's pages so that when you update, you have a local record of earlier versions. :)

Di

Daniel's Kitty

08-24-2006, 01:09 PM

I hope it gets settled although I would hate to have someone working against me who sees nothing wrong with copying my work. I can't imagine someone making it to adulthood without hearing it is wrong.

Emilie

08-24-2006, 03:23 PM

Ugh, I have had this happen to me on two different occasions - it is very annoying! Randomly, both were coordinators that stole major parts of my site were in Canada.

The first took entire paragraphs from my website, entire pages, entire package descriptions and passed them off as her own. I contacted her, told her to remove them and she did. She wrote me back saying she was embarrassed and claimed that her friend who is in marketing created the site and was the one who put up the content.

A month or so later I found another coordinator who took posts from my blog and put them on her blog as her own. I never emailed her, I just put a post on my blog asking her to stop taking my posts and using them as her own. About 2 days later, the posts were suddenly gone. :rolleyes:

I found the first one through www.copyscape.com (this is the site Katy was talking about) and the second one through random clicking. Copyscape is great but it certainly doesn't find everything.

Interestingly, once I put the note on my blog that people need to stop stealing from me, I ran a copyscape search and another site came up that was only a few towns away. But by the time I saw it, they had taken down the copied material as well.

It is very frustrating and my copycats were no where near being in the same area! I can only imagine how frustrating it must be and I hope she does the right thing and changes her site ASAP.

Good luck!

snowzilla

08-24-2006, 08:37 PM

Thanks for finding this thread, Emilie! In fact, I did read about your experience back when it happened (I'm a silent lurker in your blog from time to time - I admire you greatly!) and when this happened to me, it was a major deja vu!

She responded to my email tonight, and denied everything. She asked me to send her examples of the plagiarized material so that she could see for herself. Well, you can see it for yourself without looking very hard - why should I be forced to prove it to you? I sent her three glaring examples of word-for-word copy, and said something to the effect of "look, I don't want there to be animosity between us, but frankly, I am very confused as to how our websites can have SO many similarities..."

I'm starting to wish I had just let it be, because I feel like the emotional energy I've spent on this in the last 24 hours alone has been a total waste. But dammit, it would have eaten me up to NOT say anything either, so either way, I'm annoyed. *sigh*

Katy

08-24-2006, 10:09 PM

Holy Cow! :eek: are you kidding?!?! I think you should use the WayBack or Archive.org, take some screen shots from prior to your recent changes. And then send them back to her suggesting that she edit her text.

I know it's a PITA, but it's not like she's cities, states, providences or countries away! She's (kinda) your direct competetion and that's just SO wrong!

Emilie

08-25-2006, 04:04 AM

Thanks for finding this thread, Emilie! In fact, I did read about your experience back when it happened (I'm a silent lurker in your blog from time to time - I admire you greatly!) and when this happened to me, it was a major deja vu!

:o Thank you! Picture me blushing!

She responded to my email tonight, and denied everything. She asked me to send her examples of the plagiarized material so that she could see for herself. Well, you can see it for yourself without looking very hard - why should I be forced to prove it to you? I sent her three glaring examples of word-for-word copy, and said something to the effect of "look, I don't want there to be animosity between us, but frankly, I am very confused as to how our websites can have SO many similarities..."

IMO you did the right thing by asking her to change the site - she is likely embarrassed and just playing dumb in saying she doesn't see the similarites. In our business, we sell ourselves, our ideas, our creativity - if she can't be creative enough to come up with her own website material, how and why should anyone want her to create their wedding?

I would suggest you put your site back to the original BTW, if you liked the original. Anyone who stumbles on both will notice you have more experience and draw their own conclusion.

j*east

08-25-2006, 05:48 AM

Wow! I have been following this thread and I can't believe she denied it.

Actually, I can. I teach high school English and a few years ago a student plagiarized a paper from the internet. I was suspicious because there was a difficult, unusual word in the last sentence--"uxorious" or something like it--so I did a search and found the entire paper, word for word, online. I confronted the student, who denied everything (even when shown the evidence) and later talked to her father, who first said that he gave her the word, and then said that he wrote the whole thing. :rolleyes: The level of denial that some people have about wrongdoing is amazing.

Snowzilla, I hope you find a resolution soon.

snowzilla

08-25-2006, 07:19 AM

Here's an update:

So, in her first response, she denied everything, and went on to state that she had written everything herself, from scratch, and that she MAY have looked at my website, but swore "to G-d" she hadn't taken any text from me.

So, as I mentioned, I sent her three glaring examples.

She responded this morning, and said, "Wow, our stuff DOES look alike!" and went on to try and place the blame with her graphic designer, saying that perhaps HE had borrowed text from me. Well, if you're going to lie, at least do it well, because I have the first email where you state that you wrote every word yourself.

She went on to say that she will be contacting her graphic designer first thing this morning to have the wording changed. But nowhere in any of her emails did she offer an apology.

As for the professional organization we belong to, I did report her, and the instructors are going to be adding a little blurb on web plagiarism to their future course curriculum. I'm a guest speaker when they come through my city, and you can bet I'll be making a comment about it. I don't feel like they took it very seriously - personally, I feel that her standing with the organization should be called into question, but I'm not going to press the issue.

Oh, and as for my own site - yes, I could put it back to the way it was. I'm proud of my site - while others have paid big bucks to get their sites up and running, I built mine from scratch and maintain it myself. But I can afford to hire somebody to do it for me now, and I've been considering doing a major site overhaul for some time. My portfolio has grown exponentially, and I have a ton of new photographs from various events that I am proud to display. So I think this little episode has given me the push to call around in the next few days and find somebody to work on a redesign with me.

southerner

08-25-2006, 07:36 AM

My portfolio has grown exponentially, and I have a ton of new photographs from various events that I am proud to display. So I think this little episode has given me the push to call around in the next few days and find somebody to work on a redesign with me.
ROCK ON WITH YOUR BAD SELF :D

MidwesternGal

08-25-2006, 10:16 AM

I can't believe she denied it.

Did she ever change her site? Have you checked back yet?

I use copyscape.com a lot. I write web content, and usually it's on topics that are frequently written about. Lots of times, there are only a couple ways to word things, especially when it comes to more "technical" descriptions and such. I ALWAYS check copyscape.com because I wouldn't want to inadvertantly have the same thing as another site.

I also don't buy that she didn't know she copied you verbatim. I mean, come on. Having some similarities would be expected, since A) she did learn from you and B) you're in the same business. . . but word-for-word? Um, no way!

jnettie

08-25-2006, 11:21 AM

Ok, I take it all back. What a total B****!

I think you've totally done exactly what you should have. She even looks like more of a jerk now because you took the time to be calm and ask for some perspective, whereas she is just a big ol' liar!

lawyerlee

08-25-2006, 11:29 AM

Here's an update:

So, in her first response, she denied everything, and went on to state that she had written everything herself, from scratch, and that she MAY have looked at my website, but swore "to G-d" she hadn't taken any text from me.
I'm sure God appreciates the shout out. It's hard to believe she had the nerve to lie to you like that. Good luck with your redesign! :)

Katy

08-25-2006, 12:43 PM

Snowzilla, don't forget to make screencaps before you make the changes!

chortles

08-26-2006, 04:29 PM

Glad it worked out well! You ever need a posse to head on up to Canada and kick some ass, you just let us know...

snowzilla

08-26-2006, 10:02 PM

Glad it worked out well! You ever need a posse to head on up to Canada and kick some ass, you just let us know...

I'll be sure to remember that. ;)

Final update (or so I hope) - I received a rather terse two-line email from her today, stating that all changes were in the process of being made, and that if there was anything else I wanted changed, to let her know - like I'm being demanding or something. What. Ever. As far as I'm concerned, the issue is done and over with - I'll let karma take care of the rest.