Forum: Author Hangout

I'd also report it to Lulu as well - that way they can stop any payments to them, redirect them to you, and clean up the situation from their end.

No, lulu had no part in this. After all, they DO have contact information. Instead, someone published my book using an ISBN I'd reserved FOR lulu but hadn't used yet. The odd thing, is that I've never posted the story anywhere, so they must have purchased the book only to turn around and publish it themselves from an American site that no one's ever heard of before. In fact, it's listed as an "Art book".

I'm planning to contact Bowker, but I have to wait for 9 a.m. EST, otherwise there's no one there to answer the telephone.

It's actually funny, because the book in question has only sold a grand total of 2 copies, so it's not even like the grabbed a reasonable selling book from an unknown author, instead the stole the least successful book from an author no one (in the general public) knows. It makes you wonder what they were thinking. All I can guess is: they bought it, read it and thought "Wow! This is great! I can surely make a bundle by publishing this for free thru an unknown company via an unknown and unresponsive website."

But then, no one ever claimed bootleggers, like any other criminals, were terribly bright. If they were, they'd be able to hold down a legitimate job.

You need to consult a lawyer.

As Ernest said, it looks like a click-bait site, except there isn't much to click on at the moment. The IP owner has numerous sites, so he's apparently casting about for anything he can use to attract attention.

I called bowker, and they said there's nothing they can do, as the people ARE using a valid ISBN (mine), which means I'm unable to use it. Also, when I published the book, I listed a "published date", which makes the ISBN information permanent. I can modify the books information, flagging the book as bogus, but how many readers are going to look up the ISBN information on a free book they see online.

I guess the next step is to contact the copyright office and see what they suggest. Clearly the man is REACHABLE, since I know where he is, he's in the U.S., and whoever offers the IP can release the information for a formal complaint to be sent, but that seems like it'll take some time.

Anyone know a more direct way to get the actual name of a website's owner? I know it's available, since mine is 'publicly listed'. I just don't know how to access that information.

Actually, the click-bait idea makes sense, because I doubt the guy actually purchased the book. The ebook seems quite small, so I'm guessing they only 'published' what's available as a 'free read' on Amazon.

Anyone know a decent copyright lawyer, preferably one who lives in my region and will work for a pittance?

Shows it was registered via 1and1.com and gives privacy@1and1.com as a contact address.

That contact directs me to a 'request for contact form' which also doesn't have a functioning "Send" key, and the email informs me 1and1.com is an automated email, so further contact is worthless.

Bogus site, presented by a bogus ISP.

Guess my only option is to contact one of the copyright lawyers. (Which, by the way, are located 5 hours drive away, instead of the 2 hours I previously assumed.)

Guess my only option is to contact one of the copyright lawyers.

Is it worth spending the money?

They've been advertising heavily on UK television. I don't know about respectable though because I have no direct experience.

AJ

I honestly do not know how you can get to the conclusion that it is a bogus site by a bogus ISP.

Simple: both the bogus site's and the ISP's 'contact sites' feature the identical bogus 'email links'. I'm assuming the ISP offers these services especially to their shadier clients. Maybe the law is stricter in Germany, but I'm guessing it's not in the U.S., where no one really cares whether someone is violating the law.

Why have a contact ID if you're unable to contact it? It's clearly an attempt to project a fictitious legitimacy while protecting wrongdoers.

Oh, by the way, that phone number for 1and1's help center. The entire operation consists of an automated response asking one question: "If you are a 1&1 customer, press "1". If you are not a 1&1 customer, press "2" (and we'll redirect you to our automated sales routine).

There's no way to contact an actual human being either way, either through the phone system, email or weblinks.

By the way, I also work with a 'respectable but cheap internet services', however, I've never had any trouble reaching someone for assistance. They may not be reachable immediately, but at least there's some form of contact available.

I'm not clear on what "stolen my ISBN and published" means. Is it an ISBN already assigned to you by Lulu or someone else? And what does "published" mean, other than posting it "for sale" on their site.

It means: I purchased the ISBN, planned to use it for the book in question, but then held off because I've been unhappy with lulu's sales. I finally decided to go forward with it anyway, but was told my ISBN had "already been used". I asked myself, "How can someone use my ISBN", but I'm guessing I mistakenly listed the ISBN somewhere on my website in anticipation of releasing the book and someone grabbed it before I used it. Alternately, they could easily search for existing ISBNs using the book title, find any not already used, and then submit their book using my ISBN. In short, "owning" an ISBN doesn't mean much if you don't use it immediately! Bowker had no clue how to prevent anyone from using ANY of my ISBNs!

To answer your other question, "publishing" means they "published" my book (or some fragment of it), because that's how ISBNs get assigned to books (it doesn't happen when the owner purchases them, assigns then or completes the ISBN data). Since it looks like there's no physical way to download the book, I'm unsure why they "published" it, or what that means, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're offering it as a Kindle Select series of books. I'll have to watch and see. However, Amazon isn't very good about locating books by title, as I'm unable to tell Amazon that I published both a print and a Kindle book through them. They're unable to "find" the books in question!

Yes, this doesn't stop me from publishing the book on lulu. However, that's at least $7.80 down the drain (the cost of the individual ISBN when you purchase them in lots of 100). If I bought them individually, it would be a $78 dollar loss.

I "copyrighted" my book by publishing it (back in Nov.), so it was clearly before this guy grabbed it from me. I also have figured out how (and why) I was targeted (I'll cover that at a later date).

Anyone can slap a copyright notice on something, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything unless they registered the copyright.

No, the act of publishing (or performing for music or plays) conveys copyright protection. The only thing registering a copyright conveys is statutory damages coverage, and adding a copyright symbol to a book offers you no protections whatsoever (that only documents when the book was published for readers)! However, at $85 per book, for most Indie Authors, that'll eat through their meager profit in no time, especially as it's difficult getting statutory damage claims through the court system.

There's also a 'grace period', where I can register for a copyright up to 90-days after publishing the book, in which case I'd still retain my statutory damage rights. Who "owns" the copyright is a separate issue, as it's whoever published it first who gets the rewards (unless you can prove to a judge that you physically wrote the words first, which is notoriously difficult to prove (i.e. the other side's lawyers will rake you over the coals)).

No, actually publication is unnecessary. Fixing the work in a tangible medium is all that is needed for copyright to attach.

Actually, if you read copyright law or the copyright offices' practices, you'll see that writing something doesn't guarantee a copyright, or extend you copyright publication. Only PUBLISHING a work does. However, proving you're the legitimate author is another matter. If someone else violates your copyright, you then have to PROVE that you produced the work before the other person.

Evidentiary proof isn't the same as copyright protection.

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is cre­ated in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who cre­ated the work.

Then WHY are authors required to list the day of first publication when listing a copyright, as opposed to when you first started writing the story, or the date you completed the full first-draft, or even the final revision?

By the way, I've spent most of last night and today examining the copyright's website, discussing the matter with Boker, and reading up on how to identify website owners.

As a matter of current law, you probably aren't required to do so. No copyright notice is legally required under current law (1976 copyright act).

However, there are two factors that apply that might explain why publishers require it.

The main reason has nothing to do with copyright law, in that it's a handy way for publishers (or all stripes) to list publication dates, but it also highlights that the books are covered by copyright protection (even if it's not strictly required).

But the question wasn't about whether the symbol is required, but why they've always specified publication dates. Even description of copyright in books I've ever seen stipulates you put the publication date, NOT the date you start (or finished) writing.

However, that was all superseded by the 1976 copyright act which brought US copyright law closer to the Bern Convention.

Sorry, but Bernie's convention was very successful. Once he finished speaking, Hillary rushed him out of the theater!

It means: I purchased the ISBN, planned to use it for the book in question, but then held off because I've been unhappy with lulu's sales. I finally decided to go forward with it anyway, but was told my ISBN had "already been used".

Meaning the other folks had published and your work is now listed in publisher databases? How about getting a new free ISBN from Lulu and publishing the book? (And then go after the bad guys to whatever extent your time and finances permit?)

bb

Meaning the other folks had published and your work is now listed in publisher databases? How about getting a new free ISBN from Lulu and publishing the book? (And then go after the bad guys to whatever extent your time and finances permit?)

I started ordering my own ISBNs to solve a specific problem: I couldn't offer pre-release, review copies of my books if I had to wait for them to be published (It often takes up to two weeks for the information to work thru the system so websites/stores/libraries recognize it).

However, having predefined ISBNs which haven't been published, you're leaving yourself open to someone capitalizing on the market you've done for your book. Grabbing someone else's ISBN isn't common, but I proved it IS possible, and there isn't much you can do about it.

As far as the timetable goes, I typically set up my ISBNs when I'm in the process of writing my books so I can prepare the webpages listing the books for sale, which takes time. I tend to format each chapter's webpage as I write/revise it. I'd published the book in question to CS (createspace) and Amazon, but hesitated to publish on lulu because of poor sales. The copyright violators noticed me on LinkedIn Author discussions, targeted me, and went after my most recent book, rather than my most popular book.

How he got the ISBN isn't clear, but since it hadn't been used, once he identified the unused ISBN, he used it to "publish" the book. It's STILL a clear copyright violation, since I wrote it AND published it before he ever heard of it, but it means I can't use the ISBN (and he gets to profit from my good name).

I've got plenty of space ISBNs, so it's a simple matter publishing on lulu with a new one, so that isn't really the issue. However, the fact they stole my ISBN is the only reason I noticed they were peddling my book as their own.