Recently I received a letter from some kind lawyers asking me to take down some words on my website that infringed upon their client’s trademark. Even though we all got a HUGE laugh out of it and talked about the ridiculousness of lawyers and putting words together seemingly erroneously, it IS serious business and I complied with their request ASAP. The words they asked me to remove have indeed been removed.
Imagine my surprise to find that the same thing has happened to ME! Someone has copied some of my words, written here on this blog, and used them as their own. Not only didn’t they give me credit for the words, but they didn’t ask my permission. So just in case anyone forgot:
Copyright 2004-2006 Cara Davis and januaryone.com.
All rights reserved.
DO NOT COPY OR REPRODUCE ANYTHING
ON THIS SITE WITHOUT PERMISSION!
As we all know, mistakes can happen. I didn’t know that putting two words together would get me a letter from a lawyer, and once I found out, I fixed my mistake. Maybe this person doesn’t understand that copying a post from my blog, or taking pictures without permission is wrong. Maybe YOU don’t know that. And that’s okay. Not everyone can know everything all of the time. But I’m telling you now that it’s wrong. If you have any doubts at all, err on the side of caution and ASK the owner of said material. They may say yes, use it – they may say yes with certain qualifications or they may say no. Every answer is appropriate because THEY OWN IT.
I’m not going to say what it is I found or where I found it because I’m going to give this person the benefit of the doubt for a little bit. So don’t go looking around trying to defend my honor or anything – thank you for having my back – but I’ll let you know when I need you.
Thanks for listening and reading and not stealing, as always. 😉
FYI: Linking to someone is FINE. That’s what blogs are supposed to do – you link to another site. Do it ALL THE TIME. Even quoting a part of a post is fine, in my book, as long as you link back to the original and SAY where you got it from. In this case, someone copied an ENTIRE post of mine and published it AS THEIR OWN on their blog without any credit or permission or anything. That is BLATANTLY WRONG. Please don’t go all paranoid on me. 😉 You can use brand names too, by the way. I was joking in this post when I wrote out Mac and Apple and Xerox and Kleenex with asterisks. You don’t have to do that. And as to the question as to how I found the post, I happened to link back to myself in my own post, so it came up in one of the links to this site. HAHAHAHAHA! I caught myself! 😉
Oh and It’s NOT YOU! I have attempted to contact this person in various ways, so if you haven’t received an email from me asking you to take down the offending material, then DON’T WORRY! It’s ALL GOOD!
UPDATE! All over folks. The content has been removed and peace has been restored to this little part of the kingdom. Thank you all for playing.
That happened to me recently, too. The person did remove the post after I requested he do so (and after I renamed all the photos so that the links broke).
Wow. Would you tell me how you found out?
OMG paranoid!!! I went and checked my blog for October because I mentioned you when I went to Boston. I don’t think it is me………if it is let me know! I credited you for the recommendation so I don’t think I fit the criteria you are describing.
Oh those are some kick arse socks!!!!!
Crap! I was just about to finish a post about this nice sweater called Ariann I just finished, and show off the pictures I took of my lovely model Fara. Foiled! 😉
Seriously though, plagiarism is so wrong. I can’t believe someone would steal a whole post of yours!
do links count, when they’re directed off site?
i had completely assumed no, but now i’m all paranoid.. but then again, with lawyers involved, who isn’t? 🙂
Copied an entire post? That’s plain wrong no matter how you slice it. Hope the offender really understands now.
An entire post?! That doesn’t even make sense, why wouldn’t someone do that? Isn’t that the purpose of a blog, to have your own material? YOUR posts are about YOUR life, how could someone try to play that off as theirs? Strange.
🙂 not a very smart plagiarist, huh? gotta love those referrer logs!
I too started wondering if I could have inadvertently done such a thing, even though I know full well not to do it. Whew! My hypertrophied guilt complex can go back to sleep now. (Have some rum balls, guilt complex: maybe they’ll keep you quiet longer.)
Phew. I like me some peace and harmony! 🙂
So, in review..it would be WRONG to go around willy nilly and steal entire blog posts, posting them as my own? Hmmmm? 😉
KIDDING.
xoxoxo
almost SOMEONE’S BIRTHDAY!
May we copy the content of this post and use it on our blogs? 😉
Many of us have had similar experiences. (Though not a whole post!!) I think a lot of *readers* could use the reminder.
Frack, it’s all over too SOON. I wanted a long, protracted, nasty drama!!!! However, I’m going to copy-and-paste this entire post as my copyright post. Copying the copyright post. How much fun would THAT be???? Heehee…..
I just don’t know where a person’s head is at to do such a bizarre thing. Why WOULD a person copy and paste an entire post of someone else’s? Can someone elucidate? It just seems the most bizarre sort of act. Photos I understand (sort of), but the entire text of a post? Perhaps I need a margarita in order to help me understand. BRB….
Hooray to the end of today’s dramas! People are just daft.
Holy cow. I’m glad everything has worked itself out now.
I cannot believe how often this happens in the knit/craft blog community. It’s crazy (and kinda sad on behalf of the perpetrators who stoop to such). Glad to hear it is over and done with for you now, but still sorry you had to go through that in the first place.
P.S. – Is it okay to use the word “dude” in one’s blog? 😉
I thought that’s what memes were for.
I am chewing on the issue of people lifting a whole entry… bizarre. I do lust after your photographs sometimes… 😉
I don’t know whether mine have been lifted. <ight have to check.
Glad that your “only” problems are plagiarism and lawyers. Things are looking up, right?
Happy New Year.
A good reminder for everybody. I’ve noticed that many people seem to think nothing of using other people’s photographs without permission–even writers who know that stealing words is wrong.
Okay…I cast on and completed the ribbing in record time (for me anyway) and am lovin’ the way the yarn feels on the needles (queer huh?). I am going to make it a tad longer as well & ditch the belt. Any additional tweaks you would suggest for the one and only Ariann? I think there will be alot of women walking around in this sweater at some point soon!
In defense of lawyers, only about 90% of us are jerks. I’m in the minority……..I swear.
I think that perhaps the lifting of an entire post might be related to the fact that some folks are manufacturing blogs just to get paid for advertising. So, they put up multiple blogs, with just a few pages, and then try to capture a “niche” that will allow for some google hits, and some $$$. If they “make up” enough blogs, that make pennies a day, then they can retire to Miami…….ha! I think it may be happening much more than we know. This practice will certainly ruin blogland, in my opinion.