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Plagiarizing is Bad Form
submitted over 10 years ago by milieuxProud Sidebar Reader!

Just wanted to give folks a heads up there is a person that claims other peoples work as his own and is admin of a DIY group on FB. Unknown what he goes by on Reddit, but he copied the sidebar DIY Flavor Sources, posted a copy of it as his own work and Google did a DMCA take-down of it for plagiarism.

So, he posted another copy of the plagiarized work in excel format in his group to download, and then blocked me when I asked him to please attribute the original as per the creative commons fair use copyright. All the details at this Vaping Underground post.

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13 points
 
by mudclubover 10 years ago

Tip: Someone who is willing to plagiarize someone else's work probably doesn't care about "bad form".

3 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

Indeed. But sometimes calling someone out on bad behavior can lead to them changing their behavior in the future.

-1 points
 
by shrine399over 10 years ago

Not on the internet, unfortunately.

5 points
 
by mingotover 10 years ago

He sounds like an asshole.

BUT

"Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions. Copyright protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook."

The above is applicable in the US. YMMV in other countries.

4 points
 
by SeanMooreover 10 years ago

tl;dr: Copyright doesn't protect a recipe but it does protect a cookbook.

A curated shopping list should be protected also

1 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

I understand that legally I don't have any recourse. I admit that I just wanted to vent because I'm pretty irritated about this and to call out bad behavior.
This time he uploaded the plagiarized copy to facebook so I've reported it to them..

4 points
 
by mingotover 10 years ago

Keep in mind that if you use DCMA against him when you know that he is not actually infringing that he does have recourse against you.

1 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

He is infringing. What he posted is an exact copy of mine which is easily seen in a side by side comparison except that mine has at the bottom "licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.Based on a work at http://goo.gl/r6k6Fn".. What I meant that I wasn't about to sue him or lawyer up over a spreadsheet.

5 points
 
by titration_methodover 10 years ago

Is that shit even copywritten? Better lawyer up mixologists! Jus' kiddin', fuck that guy ::drags clone::

5 points
 
by The_Perrycoxover 10 years agoPâtissier

I don't condone it, but I do chuckle to myself when people post a recipe along with a note the likes of " for personal use only! You can't sell this"

The best way to keep your recipes out of the public is to not post them. The same reason I have dozens of recipes I don't share. If you post something here, and it's remotely good.....it will get plagiarized and no credit will be given.

4 points
 
by mudclubover 10 years ago

Also: Posting personal information is a reddit-wide bannable offence.

1 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

Unaware that included someones name, so I removed his name from the post. Thank you for the heads up.

1 points
 
by mudclubover 10 years ago

Unrelated: Excellent flair!

1 points
 
by emansticover 10 years ago

But linking to a name isn't ;) Fuck CH--god damn skank.

2 points
 
by icebreaker4lifeover 10 years ago

Eer it's a listing of prices from a bunch of companies. Sure, you put a lot of work into copying and pasting that information, but that info isn't yours...

-1 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

The form that the list takes and the tabbed notes are most certainly mine. It's just like how recipes can't by copyrighted but a cookbook can. Copyright doesn't cover the links or prices themselves, but does cover the "form or manner in which they are expressed", so if you take information and put it in an original form, the form is yours.

Google searches for example- the information is from a bunch of websites, it doesn't originate from Google. But if you copied their format and they way they present it, you can bet you'd have their lawyers all over you.

Another example is copyright can be applied to choreography - it's just a bunch of dance moves that someone copied from somewhere else, but put into a specific form and order and the result is what is copyrighted though the moves themselves are not.

1 points
 
by icebreaker4lifeover 10 years ago

You're not comparing google search results to an excel spreadsheet, with zero advanced styles or uses, are you? You've compiled a list into columns, the most basic of excel use. And while it's an informative list, I could easily make the exact same thing as you without even knowing yours existed. There's absolutely nothing special or unique. It's a valuable list, and I appreciate the effort you put into it, but none of your examples reflect the situation.

1 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

I disagree.

My examples show that pretty much anything can be copyrighted. Take a picture of something? Copyright. Nothing special or unique, especially when it's of something hundreds of people photographed. It's copyrighted because it belongs to the person that created it and you don't have a right to claim it as your own work. Period.

Could you make the same exact thing as mine without knowing mine existed? Doubt it. You'd get 100 entries in exactly the same format and order, then make the comments in my words? Some of those comments contain the contents of emails between myself and the vendor. You really think you'd get it exactly the same with no variance? You could make a similar work, but not exact unless you copied it. You're using the excuse Chad used- he didn't see my sheet, made it on his own, but it's an exact replica.

2 points
 
by domn4over 10 years ago

He/she should have just given you credit, but, like it has been said, you have no legal standing. Facebook sucks anyway, although I am on it daily... .

1 points
 
by domn4over 10 years ago

OH, I didn't realize it was Chad, the biggest asshole in juice junkies, it all makes sense now.

1 points
 
by Nicobeakover 10 years ago

Sidenote, I like the FSM for your VU acct

0 points
 
by xnavyguyover 10 years ago

I would notify the host where his group is located (FB, Google, etc..) letting them know you're the author of the work and that he's hosting it on their site to get it removed once again.

It's a crappy thing when someone does things like this. Some people just have no lives I guess and feel the need to take other peoples work and claim it as their own.

2 points
 
by milieuxover 10 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

Thanks. I did that. I just don't understand the motivation for doing something like this. Baffling.

1 points
 
by shrine399over 10 years ago

If people can feel important or smart without putting in any effort, they will.

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