>As long as we're talking about theft of work, a tenured professor with
>many years of teaching experience has taken several portions of my Web
>sites without my permission and added them to his/her site as if composed
>by him/her.
>        Any ideas of how to handle this??
>
>        Adrienne DeAngelis

===================

April 22, 1999

Adrienne,

I had a similar situation in pre-Internet days.  In 1976 I wrote my first
book, "How To Find Buried Treasure", which dealt with research methods for
the treasure hunter.  It got pretty good reviews and went through two
printings and is due for a third.  One publication of good repute in the
field ran a double-page Books For Sale ad.  Of perhaps fifty in print books
listed, mine was the only one to rate a box around it.   Obviously that
made me feel pretty good.  However...

Not too long afterwards the same publication practically reprinted my
entire book as a feature article in their magazine.  And they did it
without contacting me or making any attempt to change the wording.  If
anyone had a case to plead copyright infringement, it was me.

Well, I thought about it long and hard, and came to several conclusions:

1 - They didn't have any money, so I wouldn't be able to retire any time
soon (not to mention what any lawyer worthy of the name would have done to
my own nestegg),

2 - To raise a fuss about it would clue the small "fraternity" of treasure
hunters in to the fact that they could just buy the magazine and not bother
spending the money for the book, effectively spoiling my chances on getting
back my investment,

3 - I was a long-time subscriber, so they had to know I'd see what they had
done,

4 - I believed them to be basically good people who perhaps foolishly
blundered into committing a sueable act (and how many times over my career
(I'm now retired) did I do the same thing),

5 - Sueing someone except under the direst situation is completely against
my Libertarian nature,

5 - I've got to confess that deep down inside I was kind of tickled that
they thought so highly of my work.  The ultimate compliment, I suppose.

So I ended up never saying a word to anyone about it (except to my wife,
for if a man can't brag a little to his own wife, well, what fun is that? ;
- )

What should you do about it?  I don't know.  I'w troubled by your saying
that s/he "has taken several portions of my Web sites without my permission
and added them to his/her site as if composed by him/her".  Let me ask you
some questions.  Do you know the professor personally?  Do you think he's
intentionally trying to take credit for your work or was he simply
unthinking?   Perhaps he didn't think you would mind and didn't think to
mention it to you.  (It seems every other day my wife says to me, "You're
assuming!  To assume makes an ass out of you and me (ass-u-me, get it?))

If you know the gentleman, perhaps you could gently call the problem to his
attention and ask for either a credit line or ask him to remove your
writings from his site.  Or maybe, as a workaround, you could arrange to
link to each other's web sites.  Or maybe he could just add a link to your
site, if you didn't want to mention his site on your own.

Very likely the problem can be resolved quite simply with no hurt feelings
or resentment on either part.  But if he turns out to be a stinker who did
the deed on purpose and plans to keep doing it, you will at least know this
and can go from there.

-Jim Lyons
[log in to unmask]
http://www.jimlyons.com