Posting stories written by others in other forums without consulting the author

[Muhaba]

Some one posted my story SOME MISTAKES ARE WORTH NOT REGRETTING (which I had entered in the 2011 writing contest) in Habibi matrimonial website with only a note at the end that they had gotten it from Islamic Board contest. No one asked me if they could and they didn't put my name in the story. While i don't mind that my story is posted there, the right thing to do is to first ask my permission and to only post the story elsewhere only after permission is obtained and to also include my name after the title. Thanks for understanding.

[sister herb]

Salam alaykum

I understand your worry dear. You should write at the end of your stories that copyright is yours. Many whose use internet don´t know that same rights are legal in the internet like in everywhere else as copywright or they don´t know that writer is you or you have took text from someone else.

[~Zaria~]

Assalamu-alaikum sister,

Im sorry to hear of this.

I guess the internet has made it such, that is is very difficult to 'copyright' ones product.

Im not by any means a writer myself, so perhaps I cannot fully appreciate how this would feel like.
Would it be wrong to say, that unless you oneday intend to publish your pieces (and thereby gain financially from your work), then does it really matter if your stories are 'copied and pasted' elsewhere (without due credit)?

SubhanAllah, on the bright side - you can be happy that your stories and messages are reaching even more people - and insha Allah, if it inspires them to make a positive change in their lives, this is sawaab that will be recorded under your deeds as well : )

Insha Allah, it can be a means of sadaqah jaariyah? : )

And the best type of charity is one done anonymously.

What do you think?

BarakAllah feekum

[Qurratul Ayn]

While i don't mind that my story is posted there, the right thing to do is to first ask my permission and to only post the story elsewhere only after permission is obtained and to also include my name after the title.

I'm of the same mind, dear Sister Writer, but think of this, right, the person must have found your story to be excellent and felt the overpowering need to share it as the message within was clear and can be applied to many situations, thus having the gall to post it on another website, therefore may not have thought to consult you beforehand, to gain your permission but frankly in this day and age, simple manners and etiquette is lacking glaringly... Anyways, they did say it was from Islamic Board, so if you ever have a tendency to publish this piece of work, the proof will still be on this board as it being your story and the one you entered and as Sister ~Zaria~ writes...

SubhanAllah, on the bright side - you can be happy that your stories and messages are reaching even more people - and insha Allah, if it inspires them to make a positive change in their lives, this is sawaab that will be recorded under your deeds as well : )

[Muhaba]

That is true. But recently when I tried to publish it on an online self-publishing site, I received an email saying that I needed to prove that I am the copyright holder as the story is posted online. When I did a search, i found it on the Habibi matrimonial website with only the note that it had been entered in the Islamic board writing cntest. Obviously someone from Habibi is a member of this site. So please can the admin of Habibi get in touch with me so we can take care of this problem? I'd like my name to be included in the story to show that I'm the author and also a link to my Arabic Made Easy book which I publsihed recently.
Thank you

and I was happy to see my story but it should've included info about the author and even a copyright note.

Thanks for all of your responses.
NOTE: All my work is copyright by me and if anyone wants to use it anywhere, please send me a private message.
some of my stories are:
Cyber Lies (2010 contest)
Some Mistakes are Worth not Regretting
Dreams Do Come True
Fighting Temptation
Revenge of a Psycho Orphan
Nazia's Ordeal
Closet Boyfriend

My articles are also copyrighted so if anyone uses anything I have posted anywhere please include my name and link. Using another's work without giving credit is plagiarism. It is stealing another's intellectual property.

[jameelash]

salam,sister can uplease give me the link of ur story.if am for it inshahAllah i will post it along ur name

[Muezzin]

Try emailing the website and politely ask them to either remove it or provide a proper attribution. EDIT: Google shows that you've already sorted it out.

Still, if we find out who posted your story on that website without your permission, they can receive infractions, a ban or both, as per this thread.

Posting others' work without their permission is so not-cool, folks.

[cOsMiCiNtUiTiOn]

I'm with sister Zaria on this one. I would also like to add that, as a photographer, I've dealt with alot of the copyright problems on the internet. Bottom line is, if you plan to make money from it, brand it and copyright it, and don't flaunt it around the internet. I can understand ur frustration sister, however this copyright stuff is pretty modern. Great literature from the past was not "copyright" and it will be extremely difficult to keep an eye on the entire world to see how they use or misuse your work.

If ur not wanting to make money from it, then be happy people like your work,it is spreading and that good is and can come from it. Your reward is with Allah swt.

I no longer publish my work, i took down my website. If people want to view my portfolio, it is in person and for work purposes or to sell. Everything else that I happen to post online, even though it is technically copyright, I don't hold high hopes that people will respect that, so I just kind of let it be.

just my two pesos.

- cOsMiC

[Muezzin]

If ur not wanting to make money from it, then be happy people like your work,it is spreading and that good is and can come from it. Your reward is with Allah swt.

She was prevented from self-publishing her own work because the copyright was thrown into doubt. So, while I can see where you're coming from, I disagree. To me, it's like saying 'travelling in a car is statistically dangerous, so if you must take a car, the risk is so great that it doesn't really matter if you wear a seatbelt'.

If people take the risk of posting their work online, we owe them the courtesy of protecting it and respecting the author's wishes as best we can.

[cOsMiCiNtUiTiOn]

She was prevented from self-publishing her own work because the copyright was thrown into doubt. So, while I can see where you're coming from, I disagree. To me, it's like saying 'travelling in a car is statistically dangerous, so if you must take a car, the risk is so great that it doesn't really matter if you wear a seatbelt'.

If people take the risk of posting their work online, we owe them the courtesy of protecting it and respecting the author's wishes as best we can.

Right. I'm not speaking of the incident where she is being prevented from publishing her own work. I'm advising for future purposes and sharing my experience with this issue. Do you have work that you publish brother? If so, do tell how you manage to keep the public from using your work. Copyright does diddly squat unless u are one of those sue-happy people, which I hope Muslims are not... I'm just being real here is all, not saying she should not try to protect her work.

Although I totally agree, people should be considerate, courteous and respectful, In a perfect world though. Most are not. What is the point of experiencing something and not learning from it and helping others learn? lol I've had my work stolen by clients when given them proofs online(that was with a website which prevented right clicking and copying mind you, so measures were taken, so I didn't travel without a seatbelt so to speak ). This has been the experience of writers and artists online from what I have witnessed. That's just how people are, sadly. Publishing stuff online, most people will find a way to get it for free, re-use it as their own etc. It is a risk one takes when publishing online, there's really no way around it to be honest. If so, do tell. [I'm not being sarcastic]

- cOsMiC

[Muhaba]

Alhamdulillah the problem was sorted out.

This isn't about whether I want to make money from my writing or not. This is about taking someone else's work which shouldn't be done. I was pretty upset when I saw that the self-publishing site doubted that I held exclusive rights to the story. I was afraid that I was going to lose my story! That I might not be able to prove that it was mine. But then I thought what the publishing company was doing was protecting the rights of authors like myself by keeping others from stealing one's work. And i'm really glad for that.

I wasnt upset that Habibi matrimonial placed my story on their site and I haven't told them to remove the story. What I wanted was to protect my rights. I'm also happy that the habibi matrimonials didn't post the story as their own but gave a notice that the story was taken from IB. Therefore, I wouldnt want an infraction or ban placed on them. And alhamdullillah that most of the net users are good people who don't steal another person's work as their own!

I did learn from this issue that one should include a copyright notice on their writing whereever they post it. I didn't do that on IB because it is written in the creative writing forum rules that the author holds the copyright and no one should take their work without their permission. As for not placing your work anywhere online for fear that someone might steal it, i think that isn't necessary as long as you include your name to show that you are the copyright holder. This is because there are internet rules for this. If anyone takes any of your writing and places it on their website without your permission or proper reference, you should first email them. If that doesn't work then email the domain to inform them about the copyright infringement. (There's an article by Victoria Crayne about this.)

[Muezzin]

Right. I'm not speaking of the incident where she is being prevented from publishing her own work. I'm advising for future purposes and sharing my experience with this issue. Do you have work that you publish brother? If so, do tell how you manage to keep the public from using your work. Copyright does diddly squat unless u are one of those sue-happy people, which I hope Muslims are not... I'm just being real here is all, not saying she should not try to protect her work.

Sometimes protecting a work means (potentially, as a last resort) suing someone. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Although I totally agree, people should be considerate, courteous and respectful, In a perfect world though. M

ost are not. What is the point of experiencing something and not learning from it and helping others learn?

This can all be done in a legal and ethical manner. It doesn't require taking the work without the author's permission.

lol I've had my work stolen by clients when given them proofs online(that was with a website which prevented right clicking and copying mind you, so measures were taken, so I didn't travel without a seatbelt so to speak ). This has been the experience of writers and artists online from what I have witnessed. That's just how people are, sadly. Publishing stuff online, most people will find a way to get it for free, re-use it as their own etc. It is a risk one takes when publishing online, there's really no way around it to be honest. If so, do tell. [I'm not being sarcastic]

- cOsMiC

I agree it's a risk. There's a risk that even your published work offline will be copied without your permission. All that means is you put in as many safeguards as you can to limit the risk, and have consequences for those who break the rules. Otherwise we may as well never disclose any creative work to the public, for fear of someone stealing it.

Anyway, this particular issue seems to have sorted itself out through civilised discourse and no lawsuits. Thumbs up.

[Muhaba]

^but if there was a need for a lawsuit, then we have a lawyer onboard to help us, right?