Stolen Article
By Joanie
@Freelanzer (10745)
Canada
January 5, 2016 3:17pm CST
It is very disturbing when you find that your work is stolen and published somewhere else. I had a published article on the now defunct Helium which was removed when they went under. about a year ago. Just recently, I tried to republish the article on a different site and was told it was a duplicate. So I did a search and found my article with my byline in tact, published on a site called http://www.thebrothersnetwork.net .
It appears as if there may be many more stolen articles there as it seems to be a kind of content farm. There is no contact information just lots of articles under different categories., which means I can't contact the site owner to ask them to remove the article. The problem is that as long as my article remains published on that site, I can't use it. This person is now making money from my article without my permission. I did file a DMCA complaint (copyright infringement) with Google but not sure how effective that is.
22 people like this
18 responses
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
5 Jan 16
i found this which builds on the good advice @yuki gave below.
https://www.dmca.com/FAQ/How-can-I-remove-Plagiarism
3 people like this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
5 Jan 16
Poor Helium. The only thing I have left of it is my Oktoberfest 2012 mouse pad that they sent me!
2 people like this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
6 Jan 16
@Freelanzer Yes, it sits below my mouse to this day. It was for taking part in the creative writing contest once. I wrote everyday and in the categories they wanted and got it.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
5 Jan 16
@OneOfMany You actually got a gift from Helium? @judyEv I had about 750 but downloaded them all before they finally closed down so I don't understand how this person got the article,unless there is a way to still retrieve them from the web
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325815)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Jan 16
I had around 900 articles on there. I wonder how many, if any, have been stolen?
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
5 Jan 16
How annoying and frustrating for you. I've had atricles stolen but they have appeared on here or on the now defunct Bubblews, and fellow members have alerted me to the fact and reported them, so they were removed. I hope you get some satisfaction and are able to use your article again.
2 people like this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
5 Jan 16
I got some information and an email so I will follow up that way. Very hurtful to think that someone is using your work to make money
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
9 Jan 16
I wish you the best of luck. Some people think if you published your article online that you don't have, or never had, a copyright to it. I even read where this guy thought since he gave a link to the original article he was not plagiarizing the article by copying it.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
10 Jan 16
I have heard that. Some feel that if they give you credit for it it is OK but it isn't unless the writer gave permission
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
11 Jan 16
@RichardMeister That is indeed something to check out. I do know Helium always claimed we retained our rights, however, while they were active they did not allow writers to delete their content, so one wonders if we really had rights to our own work.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
11 Jan 16
@Freelanzer That's true. Some people have no idea what copyright laws say. What is more irritating is when someone writes what they surmise is the law and not what the law says, then posts it online. However, there is one thing you need to watch out for. If Helium (or any other place that published your work) bought all rights to your article then you have no say in what they do with it. (Selling all rights means you have given up all and any rights to your work.) They can put someone else's name on your work and there is nothing you can do about it because you sold all rights. They can sell it to another company with or without your name attached to it and you cannot do a thing about it. If Helium said you retain the rights after they published your work then they cannot do whatever they want with your work and you still have rights.
1 person likes this
@righttotheheart (226)
• Delhi, India
6 Jan 16
that's really irritating. This the reason why many of us still do not trust online jobs.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
I fear for the rest of my articles but I guess that is the risk you take when you write online.
1 person likes this
@righttotheheart (226)
• Delhi, India
7 Jan 16
@Freelanzer i have tried one article writing site but whenever i try to write article it shows some 404 error do you know what does that mean?
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
@righttotheheart does it just happen to you? Could be your browser or if not maybe the site is no longer functioning
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
12 Jan 16
@trivia79 I believe so since I removed it from Helium several months ago
1 person likes this
@trivia79 (7828)
• El Segundo, California
7 Jan 16
@Freelanzer Maybe, just maybe, whoever who stole your article had a connection with Helium before.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159102)
• Boise, Idaho
6 Jan 16
I started out on Helium Sort of enjoyed it for a time. That was way early in this 21st century. I hope you don't find more of your stuff stolen.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159102)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Jan 16
@Freelanzer ...I enjoyed it too before those unpopular changes. Sorry to hear this is going to be such a problem for you.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
I liked Helium in the early days but had not been active there for many years after they made some unpopular changes. My articles remained and I did get residual income. Now I have to check to see if my articles appear anywhere else before I try to publish them
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215481)
• Chile
5 Jan 16
It´s a shame! The problem is that if the site where you published is not active, it is not easy to get the information about the publishing date
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
5 Jan 16
We were able to download all our work before the site shut down so I am not sure how long this person got my article.
@slund2041 (3315)
• United States
6 Jan 16
I hope somebody does something about it for you. There is no sense in someone stealing others hard work. I know you must be frustrated that your hard work has been stolen and someone else is reaping the benefit for it.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
I am indeed saddened by it and feel quite helpless in the face of such a blatant theft
@cherriefic (10400)
• Philippines
6 Jan 16
That's really bad. I'm sorry to hear that. I would feel the same if it happened to me.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
It is quite disheartening and I am hoping something can be done.
@Marilynda1225 (79769)
• United States
5 Jan 16
Makes me wonder what happened to all our posts from Bubblews that weren't removed by us.
1 person likes this
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
5 Jan 16
Not sure if they would still be floating abound in cyberspace and some of these thieves know how to retrieve them. I think this is what happened in this case -they know the site closed or was closing so they pillaged
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
22 Feb 16
I don't either but since it is an international thing there are still some things you can do to make them accountable. I was able to contact the offender and it was removed. Probably won't be as lucky next time.
@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
7 Jan 16
Not a good feeling and I am now hesitant to put my work out there
1 person likes this
@Missmwngi (12927)
• Nairobi, Kenya
5 Jan 16
Oooh sorry about that and i hope with time you will get that article back
