Plagiarism is an act that terrifies most of us when it comes to sharing our content with the rest of the world. The dictionary defines plagiarism as:
a) An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author
b) A piece of writing or other work reflecting such unauthorized use or imitation
When you start blogging, there is always the fear of someone stealing your content. You feel very protective of your work and might even make your blog private in the hopes that it will stop plagiarism from occurring. As much as you try to keep it from happening, there might come a time when your work will appear somewhere else. It might be in its entirety or just snippets of it. Whatever the case, when that happens, a sense of loss and anger is experienced.
The question many ask is what do I do when my work is plagiarised? Here are a few ways to go about it.
Take evidence of the plagiarism
When you see your work on another site the first thing you should do is document that it was indeed copied. Take a screen shot of the pages (both yours and the site where the work appears). You should also download and save the page. It could help you prove your case if you do decide to take legal action.
Contact the author
Sometimes the person who put up the content might not know the work is infringing on your copyright. They may have received it from someone else and assumed it is original content before they shared it. Even if that is not the case, you need to reach out to the author and ask them to either pull down the content or give you credit. This applies mainly if the work was not used in a way that benefited the plagiarist commercially. However, if the person benefited commercially (e.g use of photograph in an advertisement, or a paid for article in the newspaper or another online publication) then you need to carry out your own investigations to determine how much was made from the image or article.
You could reach out via the contact page on the site, social media or by leaving a comment on the post. Set an ultimatum within which the person should pull down the post or credit. Give a specific date and time. Give the owner and author a chance to do so before you take any further action. Stick to your given ultimatum.
When you contact the author, highlight the title of the post, give the link and state what you want done. You can also ask for compensation in the case where the person has made money from the blog. You should be able to have determined by then, how much the work was worth.
Spread the word
Should the person who copied your work not take it down or credit it you, the next step is to spread the word about it via any means mostly through Social Media. Bring the conversation out into the open so the public can get to know you are the originator of the work. The idea is that the person who stole your content can be pressurized and shamed into taking down the content if the public becomes aware of their actions.
Go to social media and share the information on it. When doing this, be careful of how you go about it. Be sure of your facts and information and have evidence to back it up so that you won’t get accused of slander later on. Inform your friends and colleagues for them to help you spread the word by providing them with the evidence to back up your claim.
If you are a BAKE member (Which we encourage you to be especially if you are a blogger) write an email to us with all the evidence and follow up.
Identify and tag social Media influencers who will help spread your word faster. Do now be afraid to tag the perpetrators via their social media handles and confronting them via the same channels.
Ensure that any communication between you and the person is on record (refrain from reaching settlements via phone conversations)
Take legal action
If after you do everything stated above and your work is still on the site, you should consider taking legal action. Look for a lawyer who specializes in IP law and they can help you sue the person behind the site for copyright infringement. We only encourage bloggers to take this route in cases where it’s evident that there was monetary gain from plagiarized work and one has knowledge of the value.
This website has a list of Intellectual Property Lawyers in Kenya
BAKE’s role in plagiarism
At BAKE, we support the generation of authentic content. We have mediated and even intervened in cases of plagiarism involving bloggers and our members and have been able to offer reprieve to the affected bloggers. We are working hard to identify and engage an IP Lawyer willing to provide legal counsel and when required, representation to our members when such cases occur.