Another One Of My Posts Stolen --- What Can I Do?
By M.-L.
@MALUSE (69413)
Germany
September 11, 2019 3:02pm CST
I’ve just got into a conversation with an American member about where the pizza is better, in Italy where pizza was born, or in the US of A where it migrated to with Italian emigrants.
Of course, the discussion is futile as I’m right with the claim that nothing can surpass the original, heehee. But this is not the topic here.
I wanted to send the member the link to a post I had written on the best pizzeria in Naples, Italy, namely L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele. Instead of going through the list of my 480 discussions I chose a different way.
I‘ve saved all my posts. I copied the first paragraph of the text and asked google to find it. It did find it but not where it should be, namely on myLot! I was directed to the site ‘MaMaChineseCooking.com‘. Under ‘About‘ I‘ve found the information that it is ‘a Chinese cooking recipe site. Here, you can learn recipes from others & share recipes with others. Browsing recipes is free.‘
I wrote my post on October 6th, 2018. The Chinese site doesn’t mention a date when it posted my text. (It doesn't mention my name, either). Surprisingly, I’ve found an e-mail address I could turn to. (It’s not the first time I’ve chanced on a plagiarised text of mine on obscure sites I’ve never heard of. Some don’t give a name or an address one can turn to but my full name as if I wrote the text especially for them!)
Now, what can I do? I can’t contact them and complain because they are anonymous. I could hire a lawyer to find out their details and then sue them. The lawyer would cost me more than my post is worth. What is my post worth anyway? Who puts a prize tag on intellectual property?
I’m afraid I can only curse the Chinese thieves, bite in my pillow and gnash my teeth in anger.
The cheek of it!
-----
Here are the links to my post and the plagiarised one:
https://www.mamachinesecooking.com/antica-pizzeria-da-michele-naples-italy/
Whenever I read an enthusiastic review on a frozen pizza and how delicious it is, I’m overwhelmed with sympathy. “Poor sod,” is what I think, “if only they...
17 people like this
19 responses
@Michellekidwell (29260)
• Sonora, California
11 Sep 19
I’ve had this happen to me as well, I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with it as well! I would love to try that Pizzeria someday!
1 person likes this
@Michellekidwell (29260)
• Sonora, California
11 Sep 19
@MALUSE Definitely have thought of that, and Verona where my family immigrated from!
1 person likes this
@porwest (78761)
• United States
15 Sep 19
It is always terrible when this sort of thing happens, and I did write to them as well. But like you mentioned, there really is no recourse for people like us when it DOES happen. And of course hiring a lawyer would be futile since as you also mentioned, you might have been out a few pennies from the post—of course that depends on how much the site in question has made from your post, if anything at all. It IS good to find these, though, point them out, and let THEM know we know about it. Not sure it will deter them from continuing to do it, but if nothing else they might simply avoid ripping further stuff from this site or from you specifically knowing you are aware and watching.
1 person likes this
@porwest (78761)
• United States
15 Sep 19
@MALUSE While what I do on here is not 'writing' per se, I AM still a writer outside of here. Our work is very dear to us, and no one ever wants our hard work to be stolen or put under the credit of someone who did not take the time actually doing the work.
Like I said, probably does nothing to let that site know WE know what happened here. But it still feels good to call them out on it.
@DocAndersen (54413)
• United States
12 Sep 19
Honestly, you really can't do anything. China does not currently support any of the global intellectual property laws. Other than their stuff, then they support them.
Plus, I was right!
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54413)
• United States
12 Sep 19
@MALUSE i was the American you were having the argument with!
1 person likes this
@yanzalong (18984)
• Indonesia
18 Sep 19
If your name had been written under the text, how would you feel about it?
@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
13 Sep 19
Oh my! what can be done about plagiarists?.. I hear more and more of this..
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
11 Sep 19
I have been writing online for about 12 years, and I have had countless articles and posts stolen and put on other sites. I could go through the process of proving each one of them is mine, but on an individual basis I earn very little per article, so I do not bother. It takes less time to just write a new, more profitable article than it does to go through the process of proving someone stole one of my articles. I'm sorry there are so many crooks on the internet!
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
13 Sep 19
@MALUSE - Yes, I agree. Accept it as a compliment and move on with your life. Fighting them is very time consuming and rarely worth it.
@VivaLaDani13 (60355)
• Perth, Australia
15 Oct 19
@MALUSE Sorry to know that happened to you. I really hate it when people take something and claim it as their own. Boils my blood!
@lovebuglena (43077)
• Staten Island, New York
12 Sep 19
Happened to me as well. 
I wrote a hub about MS Word Keyboard shortcuts and that has been copied to many sites. But the shortcuts are not original obviously so not sure if I can file a complaint, although if memory serves me right I may have done that years ago.
I wrote a hub about MS Word Keyboard shortcuts and that has been copied to many sites. But the shortcuts are not original obviously so not sure if I can file a complaint, although if memory serves me right I may have done that years ago.1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156157)
• United States
12 Sep 19
@lovebuglena Very sad to have your work stolen.
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56302)
• Philippines
17 Sep 19
Nothing you can do. Make a post that site has plagiarized your works. Thus the world may know that you are the original author. Period.
@egdcltd (12060)
•
11 Sep 19
Sadly, there are many, many sites out there that steal content. Some of them even the largest companies in the world are incapable of dealing with. There's one site I know of that steals material - including from Hasbro - and requests personal information for DMCA takedown notices, then publishes said information on the internet and leaves the content up.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
12 Sep 19
It is a shame that there is no mention of you. I remember this article and others on the subject. OH well you are now famous in China too but sad you get no credit for it. I would drop a complaint that it is plagiarised just so they are up to speed about it. They also do not identify anyone who posted it either but they may have details in their office so they can give them a good wallop with their size nines stivali.
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
11 Sep 19
There are things you can do but it does take time.
This is one of the links I use that has been very helpful and details several things you can do although most people I know go straight for the dmca thing and get the site removed from search engines.
A guide on how to respond when your content has been copied online.
@ilocosboy (45157)
• Philippines
13 Sep 19
Some people cannot write but too good in plagiarism and they're making money out of it. One of the sad truth and the real author left gnashing teeth without the proper compensation.
