Just been informed (correctly) that my short story 'The Tutor' has turned up on Amazon as 'The Teachers Adventures' by Belinda Jacobs. You may want to check if any of your stories are there on 'her' publishings too.
Just been informed (correctly) that my short story 'The Tutor' has turned up on Amazon as 'The Teachers Adventures' by Belinda Jacobs. You may want to check if any of your stories are there on 'her' publishings too.
Time for takedown notices, again.
Amazon has the banking and personal data for the previously identified plagiarists. I'm curious about how Amazon uses this data. An ethical company would 'checkout' people who want to sell their books on Amazon and refuse to accept books for sale from people previously identified as plagarists.
Is it a case of a single person using multiple pennames or is it different people? Unfortunately, only Amazon can answer that question.
ETA: Amazon says that it has a group that is tasked with resolving plagiarism and similar problems. I sent an email to this group about a plagiarist a while back. Their response was that they only respond to notifications from the people who actually wrote the books (take down notices?). Personally it doesn't seem like they are interested in preventing the sale of plagiarized books on their site.
Amazon has the banking and personal data for the previously identified plagiarists. I'm curious about how Amazon uses this data. An ethical company would 'checkout' people who want to sell their books on Amazon and refuse to accept books for sale from people previously identified as plagarists.
The personal information Amazon has on the infringers is likely either outright fake or a mater of identity theft.
The personal information Amazon has on the infringers is likely either outright fake or a mater of identity theft.
If they want to get paid they have to give SOME traceable information. Even if they're paid by check, the check has to be cashed/deposited into an account. Last I checked, Amazon didn't pay in cash using small, unmarked bills. :-)
Of course, the time and effort necessary to track all of this down outside the US is nightmarish and likely costly.
If they want to get paid they have to give SOME traceable information.
Fake ID and a bank account using the same fake/stolen identity they gave Amazon in a country with lax or no rules on banks verifying the identity of account holders.
Fake ID and a bank account using the same fake/stolen identity they gave Amazon in a country with lax or no rules on banks verifying the identity of account holders.
Blacklisting the bank is a possible solution to that, and one which should be done. If Amazon doesn't, the simple solution is legislation requiring them to disgorge 100% of the revenue they received to the legitimate copyright holder instead of allowing them to pocket their profits and walk away.
Blacklisting the bank is a possible solution to that
All I was referring to was the ability to trace the offender. True, they could blacklist the bank, but that still doesn't let you trace the infringer.
If Amazon doesn't, the simple solution is legislation requiring them to disgorge 100% of the revenue they received to the legitimate copyright holder instead of allowing them to pocket their profits and walk away.
There already is legislation. It is being an accessory to a crime. If you rob a store and give part of the money to someone and they know the money is stolen, they are violating the law. Proving that against Amazon, considering their legal resources, will however be difficult.
The first thing they will do is seek to try each case separately, which reduces it to hundreds of cases of petty theft rather than a single case of accessory to grand theft, or whatever the legal definition is for what they are doing. The main point is, they are profiting from a crime.
Note: I ain't a lawyer,but I did stay in a No Tell Motel once.
There already is legislation. It is being an accessory to a crime.
The problem with that is there has to be a crime first. 90+% of copyright infringement doesn't qualify as criminal under US law.
First, to be criminal, the work(s) infringed need to have registered copyrights. Not many authors posting stories to sites like SOL bother to register their copyrights.
The first thing they will do is seek to try each case separately
US law does not allow private criminal prosecutions.
If the feds (government prosecutors) were to bring criminal charges against Amazon under copy right law, no, Amazon would not have the option of seeking to have each case tried separately.
If they want to get paid they have to give SOME traceable information.
That isn't necessarily true. Criminals get paid all the time. There are countries where getting a bank account, with no identifying name or false name, is as easy as sliding a teller a few bucks.
Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Ukraine, Vietnam, Phillipines, just to name a few.
The personal information Amazon has on the infringers is likely either outright fake or a mater of identity theft
The first thing to consider is the banking information. Is the schmuck's bank in the US or overseas. What you say is probably true if the bank is overseas.
If an American bank is involved, the plagiarists real name can be determined although that will probably require court orders and a lot of work. When you finally find the shmuck, they will probably have spent any money they received. It might be worth it if the shmuck ended up in jail.
It might be worth it if the shmuck ended up in jail.
Sadly, that costs the authors (and the rest of the taxpayers) more than they probably lost in the first place, likely by orders of magnitudes given royalty rates for anyone who isn't on the NYT Best Seller list (and probably even for some of them).
Not saying punishment of some sort isn't warranted, but at some point the cost just ain't worth it.
If an American bank is involved, the plagiarists real name can be determined although that will probably require court orders and a lot of work.
That would definitely require court orders. And you have to file the infringement lawsuit before you can get those orders.
When you finally find the shmuck, they will probably have spent any money they received. It might be worth it if the shmuck ended up in jail.
Unless the shmuck spent himself into the poor house, it doesn't matter if he already spent the money earned from you work. Under US law at least, monetary damages don't work that way, money is fungible.
If I understand correctly, in the US, only the copyright holder or their agent is authorized to send copyright infringement notices. I totally get this, because if third parties could make such claims, they could easily take down legitimately published works and create nightmares for any online service.
Amazon does, if I understand, blacklist bank accounts. I've seen it reported (but have no way to verify) that they seek photocopies of IDs from anyone oversees they mail checks to.
Where ever something of value can be found, there a thief you will also find.
At least when it was posted here etc first, a record of when it was posted is established. What Amazon should do is release the numbers of stolen works sold so that the loss of income by the true author can be tabulated. With that information, an Author can make an informed decision regarding going after them for damages legally.
My .02
Hi guys, You may or may not have seen my post on another thread. Belinda Jacobs got me tool More than once. I'm in contact with Amazon about this issue. Another of their writers who could possibly be the same person using another name Simon Gerrard, got me too. As of yesterday I've been stolen from by at least four frauds on Amazon. What I need is a list. If you've had stories stolen in Amazon, please send me the title of your story, the author who stole it and the title they published it as. There's strength in numbers and maybe its time that we got together to let Amazon know there's an issue.
Belinda Jacobs and Simon Gerrard erotic stories have been taken down from the Australian version of Amazon. Can someone confirm if that is true for other versions as well?
Can someone confirm if that is true for other versions as well?
They have been taken down on amazon.com (U.S.)