Over a week ago, I reported an author who has plagiarized from other sources. So far, nothing has been done even though i cited the original sources. This isn't a matter of a few bits here and there. I didn't read either of the author's two books in their entirety, but the first chapters were simply lifted, sometimes with a few small changes from other work that's available on the internet.

I'm wondering whether I wasted my time doing the research to ensure that I was reporting a real problem. Has anyone been through this? How long does it take Authonomy to respond? This "author" has the same books with their stolen content on sites where they are for sale. If Authonomy acknowledged the plagiarism, I'd have a good basis to report him elsewhere. But at the moment, I'm in a mood to say "screw it." Or maybe I'll just see if I can contact the original authors and let them handle it.

Posted: 29/02/2012 14:58:28

Nothing wrong with whistle-blowing. It shows you care.

Posted: 29/02/2012 15:00:45

Name & Shame, and report it to the authors.

There's no excuse for plagerism, as this case shows: http://lizfielding.blogspot.com/2012/02/copyright-theft.html - the 'writer' has now been unmasked (Kay Manning and Payton Bradshaw were both pseudonyms), forced to apologise and remove their work from various websites.


Posted: 29/02/2012 15:10:30
Last Edit: 29/02/2012 15:12:23 by NMott

I've read the Manning scandal (and many others in the past). When you say name and shame, I hope you don't mean here on Authonomy. It's something that needs to be investigated by the staff, and it's their decision what to do about it. I just wish i knew whether they're going to move on it. If not, I won't bother to make any more reports if I come across plagiarism again. Of course, this is far more serious than plagiarism, it's out and out copyright violation.

Posted: 29/02/2012 16:25:43

They should care about the integrity of their own site. They should care for lots of obvious reasons too. The above poster must be hugely jaded or cynical. Did anyone mention suing? If someone stole her words even without profiting would she be so off-hand about it?

And C.S. is doing what the FAQ advise:

"I’ve found offensive or copyrighted content. What should I do?

We rely on our visitors to identify and report abuses across the site, so please don’t hesitate to drop us a line if you spot anything out of place. Click the ‘report abuse’ links which you’ll find on each page – and leave our moderators the details of your complaint. Help us keep the authonomy community running as it should!"


Posted: 29/02/2012 17:39:20

Unless Harper Collins hold the copyright to the plagiarised book why would they care? Unless the offender is making financial gain from to plagiarised work, or damaging sales of that work, all you have left is punitive damages. There is no point in suing the 'don't haves' - you can never win.

@ C. S McClellan: "Over a week ago, I reported an author who has plagiarized from other sources. So far, nothing has been done even though i cited the original sources. This isn't a matter of a few bits here and there. I didn't read either of the author's two books in their entirety, but the first chapters were simply lifted, sometimes with a few small changes from other work that's available on the internet.
I'm wondering whether I wasted my time doing the research to ensure that I was reporting a real problem. Has anyone been through this? How long does it take Authonomy to respond? This "author" has the same books with their stolen content on sites where they are for sale. If Authonomy acknowledged the plagiarism, I'd have a good basis to report him elsewhere. But at the moment, I'm in a mood to say "screw it." Or maybe I'll just see if I can contact the original authors and let them handle it. "
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Unless the original authors are the same as the authonomy contributors, but under a different name?

Or the authonomy author has been ripped off by these others?

I agree that it's probably a rip-off as you describe, but I can also see why authonomy has to be careful before taking action.

Posted: 29/02/2012 17:48:16

"Umm, I can't recall saying anything about suing. This is about the credibility of Authonomy."

Yes.

Posted: 29/02/2012 17:50:08

Zane, the copied material was written long before the "author's" books. The material contained in one of his books is from a working paper on a university site. I gave Authonomy all the relevant links, so it shouldn't be that hard for someone to track it down and make a decision.

Posted: 29/02/2012 17:51:31

Surely having copyrighted material on their website, which is one of their brands, should matter to them?

Having a website with this amount of users will figure in their balance sheets. If it became apparent they didn't treat copyright issues seriously, what could reflect less well on a major publisher? This may be a small backwater slush pile operation compared to their other activities, but it is still a HarperCollins venture. It is still a place where serious and talented writers find offers of representation and publication from displaying their work here.

Posted: 29/02/2012 18:02:50