She stole my intellectual property, but I didn't do anything about it.

Tweet

Google defines Intellectual Property as being "a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc." There is a girl that I have on my facebook friends list. I would call her more of an acquaintance than anything, though we used to be the best of friends. The other day I wrote a piece about depression and anxiety and shared it to my facebook as a status. I did not write that it was my work, but I also didn't write "copy / paste" or "share" this. The majority of people that know me well enough, however, know that I do dabble in writing. I have written pieces that I've submitted exclusively as a facebook status. I never write that it is something I have written. Like I said above, I also do not encourage people to copy / paste my status or share it. This acquaintance has done this before... and it irritated me then. I didn't do anything about it then and I wont' do anything about it now because I hate confrontation and I don't want to have to deal with her as she used to be a drama queen, and there's every likelihood that she still is. I don't want to find out. I did, however, go back to my original post and put "Written By Amber Nic Eachain Hart" (which is my name) and as such is my intellectual property. Please ask before sharing or copying and pasting, and give me credit when you do." I realize this is on facebook, in public, and I may very well not have a right to whatever I have written on my facebook. I don't know the rules and regulations on it, nor do I know whether facebook retains the rights to the intellectual property written within their site, regardless of whom so wrote it. However, it is the principle of the thing. Common sense also tells you that if it is written on someone's status, and they have not shared a reference / source, the majority of the time it is going to be something that they, themselves have written. Ugh... I'm sorry, I just had to get that all off my chest. Some people, hey?