Plagiarism

Copy cats, word thieves, or idea burglars are ones who breach copyrights, bootleg website information and format. They are too lazy to think of new copy on their own.

Plagiarism is rampant within universities, elementary schools, the American workplace, in books, marketing ads, the Internet and more places than there is room to write here. This website has already been plagiarized and it was just launched seven weeks ago. You may have received a newsletter from a competing writer's website with like information appearing on this site. I know who had the info launched first and it wasn't her.

Websites are intellectual property. There are attorneys, laws and advocate organizations willing to take on the copy cats and word thieves. I didn't become a writer to take on plagiarism artists - then again, I'm not protecting a book listed on the weekly bestseller list either. It is important to pick your best fight. Prioritize the importance of the offense.

Protect your work with copyrights, trademarks and if necessary, patents. Keep your work clean and practice giving credit where credit is due. Research and gain written permission to use portions or whole works of others. Use bibliographies, correct quotation format and verify the quotes.

Lawsuits involving the breach of copyrights can be real dog fights. Liability and fees can take everything you have - both ways.

Be sure what you have written is an original thought. Did you read it somewhere else at another time and place in your life? Coincidences do occur and they occur often. You will know the difference.

Andi Peto-Selby

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