Intellectual Property Theft by John Achor

Years ago a young office worker came to me because everyone knew I wrote. Because I detest the Politically Correct “he/she” or alternating gender pronouns in favor of fairness, I’ll refer to this person as feminine. He/She or It may or may not be female. She asked me to read and critique a children’s short story she wrote.

At home, I was moving through the prose when something reined me in. I went back over the last few paragraphs then put the narrative down and pulled a thin hardback from a bookcase shelf — The Velveteen Rabbit.

In seconds I located the familiar passage in the book. Comparing the book to her story, I found she lifted entire paragraphs verbatim. That’s Intellectual Property theft — plagiarism.

The next day, I pointed out the problem to her. Her defense was, “… but the author said exactly what I wanted to say.” My reply was, “You can’t ‘borrow’ the words of others. You have to find your own language to get the job done.” I’m not sure my critique soaked in. I said I would read the whole story when she came up with her own version. I don’t remember her returning for a re-read.

Excuses abound: I didn’t see a copyright notice. Makes no difference. If you didn’t write it, someone else holds the copyright. All I have to do is put pen to paper — or in this age, fingers to computer keyboard — and I own the copyright. The Internet makes plagiarism a cake walk — highlight text, edit/copy, edit/past and instantly — it’s mine, all mine.

I hope, dear reader, you realize there are software programs today designed to identify “lifts” such as those. Also, think back to my opening example. What kid would not recognize a passage from The Velveteen Rabbit?

Suppose I plan to write a sweeping epic of the U.S. Civil War era and call it Gone With the Wind. Can I do this? Yes and No. I doubt I could write that novel, but if I did, I could use the same title. You cannot copyright the title of a work.

Theft has cost several journalists their jobs and at least one novelist her book advance. How would you feel if you posted a short story on the web only to find another person did a copy/paste and won big bucks in a contest sponsored by a writers’ magazine? If you don’t want that to happen to you, don’t do it to others. Stay away from the theft of Intellectual Property — don’t plagiarize.

Original posting at www.beejaysez.blogspot.com. Reprinted with permission.

John Achor is an author from Arkansas. Visit his blog http://beejaysez.blogspot.com or his website http://johnachor.com.