Zap's nearly famous and being plagarized

Z

Zap

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
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I've taken to posting motherboard reviews on Anandtech forums. I noticed today that some of my reviews comes up on Google as the #1 link when searching for reviews on those particular motherboards. As I was looking at stuff, I noticed two web sites had copied my review on one particular board and posted it on their sites without asking/telling me. They didn't just quote portions of it, but indeed copied the whole thing verbatim. They do attribute to having been written by "Zap" but they didn't even ask me.

Here's more info on Anandtech forums.
 
From what I see, they gave you credit by listing you as the author. :confused:
 
Send the MPAA after them. Thats what i would do. But that is just me. I am kidding i could care less as long as your name is on it.
 
AppaYipYip said:
From what I see, they gave you credit by listing you as the author. :confused:
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That doesn't really work here though. Following that logic, I could make a book of all the [H]'s articles, put "credit goes to Kyle" in there, and then sell the book for $50 a pop. All of the money goes to me of course, and Kyle never see's a dime. But that's OK because I gave credit where it was due. How would you like that, Kyle? Same thing here, these places are putting his reviews on their sites so as to generate traffic to their sites and thus making money on advertising. Will Zap ever see a dime of that money? No.

Zap, have you emailed these sites and made your demands? I would most certainly take action here.
 
I understand that, but these reviews are free. Nobody is charging me for them. They are freely viewable on Anandtech's forums, he does not get paid for them. He wrote them for free, posted them for free, etc. I think there is a difference since Kyle and the [H] authors do their reviews for a site that is their livelyhood. But in Zap's case I don't see what he can do, in a legal sense.
 
You can ask them to stop, or offer you a job.. If they like your work enough to copy it, perhaps they like your work enough to pay for it.. Be careful what you say, or rather, how you say it, you don't want to burn any bridges with a potential employer by getting too pissy about this situation..
 
You can definitely ask them to stop. That's within your right as the author. How far you push it if they don't stop is another matter.
 
It was for the public when you posted it at AnandTech, and it's for the public now. Nothing has changed, and it's credited to the correct author.
 
Demon_of_The_Fall said:
They don't have any right to do that. Make some legal threats.
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Someone explain to me exactly WHY they would not have the legal right to do that?
 
It seems many of you need to take some economic classes.

Just because something is public, doesn't mean it is up for grabs.

Go to NY and try take home some water fountains, statues, trees or park benches for your front yard. When the police stop by, tell them "Its free for everyone to enjoy, so I can take it home for them to enjoy at my house" argument, and try not to get thrown in jail. At least you can plead insanity!
 
AppaYipYip said:
Someone explain to me exactly WHY they would not have the legal right to do that?
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Did you even read your internet reference?
 
cyks said:
It seems many of you need to take some economic classes.

Just because something is public, doesn't mean it is up for grabs.

Go to NY and try take home some water fountains, statues, trees or park benches for your front yard. When the police stop by, tell them "Its free for everyone to enjoy, so I can take it home for them to enjoy at my house" argument, and try not to get thrown in jail. At least you can plead insanity!
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I'm sorry, but these examples that are given in this thread do not correlate to his situation. Stealing PHYSICAL property that was bought and paid for by taxpayers dollars, and are express property of a city, is NOT the same as posting something on the internet.

Please read the link I posted. If he does not expressly own Copyright to the material he posted, then I think he is out of luck. Internet copyright laws are fuzzy though.
 
cyks said:
Did you even read your internet reference?
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Yes I did, but he did not secure a copyright. That quote you posted does not apply. :eek:
 
I understand that, I didn't know he didnt have a copyright. haha, too bad zip
 
But Kyle does have this site copyrighted, and that is where the reviews appear, so it would seem to me that they would be obligated to request permission from Kyle, else infringe on his copyrights.
 
npurdin said:
But Kyle does have this site copyrighted, and that is where the reviews appear, so it would seem to me that they would be obligated to request permission from Kyle, else infringe on his copyrights.
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Do you have any idea what you just said? Kyle did not write the reviews in question, Zap did. The copyrights Kyle owns only apply to what Kyle writes, not us. :p
 
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