Exclusive Community of 19,000 Mom Bloggers

She outright copied me, what do I do?

So one my partners from my blog sent me an email this morning directing me to a sight where the lady obviously copied and pasted my rules, just added a couple different things. (I run giveaways on my blog) It bugs me because the rules are my words that I took the time to write and set up so they are unique to my blog. I want to write her and ask her to stop doing it, but how should I go about it?
And I can't even believe she had the nerve to do that, I understand using others rules as a guideline to get your own written just right, but just as a guideline. Who does that? Grrrr

Tags: copy, copying

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ann Harrison on June 17, 2009 at 1:15pm

Wow Katie. I completely understand your frustration.
I'm sure this person didn't do this to upset you. They probably have no idea that it would bother you. (You took time to create something for your site and she obviously liked it alot! :-> )

I've visited your site and didn't see a "copyright protected" badge. You might want to check out My Free Copyright. http://myfreecopyright.com. That should help in the future.

I've known others who have contacted fellow bloggers that have taken-without-asking and it gets really touchy and sometimes a bit ugly. (It's difficult when you can't hear the persons tone, or see their face. ) I totally get your frustration. I'm just sharing what I know. Good luck!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly Razzano on June 17, 2009 at 2:04pm

Wow, you did go into a lot of details with your rules! I am impressed, you are so professional and cover all the bases. That must have taken so much of your time. Is the other blog new? Maybe you could post a few schedule for helping others - I'd pay for that kind of help! Good luck, this written stuff is so touchy and so hard.
Thanks for the copyright info Ann!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amanda Leigh on June 17, 2009 at 6:40pm

I would email me and ask her (nicely) to take it down. It is plagiarism.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by lindsey on June 18, 2009 at 10:21am

I agree with Ann on the copyright, there is sevral good free copyright sites out there, you can custimize to fit your needs.. Good luck!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Molly Tomlinson on June 18, 2009 at 11:32am

I wouldn't hesitate to ask her to revise her rules.

I'd approach it "nicely" at first and just tell her that you're flattered that she liked your rules enough to copy them, but you'd appreciate it if she'd revise them into her own words.

That's just totally unprofessional.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Harriet B on June 19, 2009 at 9:11am

There really isn't much you can follow through with. Yes, there are copyright laws etc but, you'd have to prove something and follow through with it. Take the incident as a complement and be happy it was just contest rules and not a post.

Once I was on a blog where the blogger was so mad at someone who constantly stole her posts, verbatim,that she posted his email and other information an told her readers to go after him.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Toni on June 19, 2009 at 9:27am

I agree with Harriet maybe take it as a complement but if it really bothers you then ask her to revise them

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sitters4U/Bianca on June 19, 2009 at 9:31am

This has happened to me so much I have given up fighting it and now simply take it as a compliment, then again, I am in South Africa, not the States, If I were you I would contact a Lawyer and see what they have to say. It is plagiarism after all...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Victoria Mason on June 19, 2009 at 10:34am

I'm not sure about the guidelines on this. Have you contacted her outright and asked her to either remove it or give you some credit where it is due? It's the right thing to do.

Myself, I have found two blogs recently that have the same name as mine. I'm wondering what the protocol for that is. Any advice would be appreciated!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Margaret Bochy on June 21, 2009 at 1:17pm

I went through this when starting my blogs. Everything I wanted to use was taken and I had to really get creative to think of something different (I am currently on Blogger) Recently I set up a custom domain for one of my blogs and had to change it again, because with domains the name cannot be the same unless you change the .com to ,org or some other suffix. I am happy that I went the custom domain route, because that cannot be copied.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ane Fallarme on June 19, 2009 at 10:38am

Wow. You should write her a letter to tell her about it, ask her if she can quote you instead or something like that.. These kind of people really frustrate me, one time my friend ran a contest on her blog and the same thing happened, a person just copied everything off of her post, as in everything, my friend wrote to her telling her of a possible disqualification if she didn't change her post and make it original, she did change it in the end.. I might go and check out myfreecopyright.com too.. Hope everything works out for you.. :D

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tenille on June 19, 2009 at 11:30am

This happened to me just last night! My rules were copy/pasted onto a 'friend's' brand new (as of this month) blog. Couldn't believe it! I don't think she realized she was doing anything wrong. I just emailed her and asked her to change it.