Flattery or Thievery
My friend and colleague Sharon Hurley Hall told me that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or annoyed when she pointed me towards a blog she found that closely resembled something I recently wrote.
I recently inspired someone else who started a business based on one of my ideas and it made me want to be wary in future of being so expressive and sharing of my thoughts with friends and colleagues.
I can think of many times where a blog or something I’ve read has inspired me to write a post but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever actually copycatted someone. I know Sharon has inspired me and I’ve inspired her through conversations or blogs and we’ve awarded credit to one another for it if it was really direct. Maybe the person who appears to have copied me doesn’t realize how closely their recent post resembled one of mine that I know for a fact that they have read. I sure hope not.
It isn’t blatant plagiarism in the sense that nothing appears to have been cropped and pasted from my blog to theirs but some of the wording and format and certainly the gist of the blog entries match very closely. Again, I know that the person read the blog entry in question because they actually commented on it.
I’ve seen and heard of content thieves and watched other writers get furious and get even by splashing someone’s name on their website and calling out the offender. I’m not about to do that here this time because I am giving the person the benefit of the doubt in case my post etched its way into their subconscious and they mistook memory for inspiration.
It’s possible.
I know I’ve read great books and been inspired and read great blog entries that sparked ideas as well but I don’t think I’ve ever blatantly copied anyone on purpose. Hopefully the offender comes across this post and realizes that they’ve made an innocent mistake and simply decides to be more careful in future.
Have a great day.
Dana
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Dana is a Canadian freelance writer who shares information about the writer’s life at http://danaprince.blogspot.com and health and fitness advice at http://healthniche.blogspot.com.
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I feel that there is a big difference between copying an idea and the expression of an idea. The law seems to agree with me.
An idea can not be copyrighted. However, an expression of said idea, once it is fixated into a tangible medium, can be. A business model might be patentable, depending on how it works, but it can’t be copyrighted.
Is it unethical for them to at least acknowledge their source? Perhaps. But like you said they might have known where the idea came from or might have gotten it from an, as of yet, unidentified third party.
The problem with ideas is that they can be created by multiple people at the same time. Expressions can not.
If they did take the idea from you, I hope they at least give you some credit for it, it would seem to be the right thing to do, but proving that can be hard and, even if they did, most likely an actionable offense has not occurred.
As always, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, just my experience on the subject.
Personally, I’d be curious to compare the two entries to see how closely they resemble each other. I’ve seen (and heard of) bloggers who basically steal content from other sites. But I imagine there are some cases when two ideas just overlap, or the inspiration is more subconscious than conscious. Any chance you’ll share the post with us? At least your post that inspired the copycat?
Dana:
I was unable to find an email address for you, but I left a post on your blog.
Thanks to those who have written to me directly about this blog post. The post landed on target and reached the person that wrote the post that was so similar to mine and the issue has been resolved amicably.
Instead of being angry and feeling ambivalent towards someone I cross paths with at writing communities regularly, I’m glad that I addressed this in a non-direct way and got resolution.
Cheers,
Dana
I think Jonathan hit the nail on the head with his comment about ideas and expressions. I am glad you were able to get the matter resolved. Thanks for contributing such an interesting post to my blog, Dana.