The Smart & Effective Way to Respond When Someone Steals Your Work
brand direction & styling by us for Alicia Voelker Design | photo by Nina Ruth Photography
Two weeks ago, we discovered that someone had been stealing our work, word by word.
We stumbled upon an IG account in Spanish. When I viewed the first post, I noticed something was off. It was the way she used emojis and spacing. It just seemed TOO familiar.
It turned out, the creator had been directly translating all of our content. From the ones we could find, there were at least 50 posts that were copied from us.
She included all of the content we wrote about our friends, family, ex-bosses, personal mission, values, client testimonials… the names were all replaced intentionally, but the rest were all direct copies.
Words simply can’t describe how confused, disappointed, and angry I first felt as soon as I learned about this. What was most disheartening to me was not that our how-to’s and business tips were copied. What upset me the most was how our stories, emotions, thoughts, and voice were being exploited!
Frankly, our communication and connection with our community are what is most important to us. And I felt devastated knowing that someone else is taking advantage of our voice. However, instead of making rash decisions and reacted immediately, we took the following steps in response to this incident.
Here are the steps to take to handle being plagiarized, the smart way:
#1 Refrain from responding immediately
Trust me, I get how frustrating it feels when you find out someone has been benefiting from your work and stealing your ideas and voice! But hold your horses. To get the justice you deserve, venting, lashing out, or responding with anger would not get you the resolution. Instead, take the following steps before alerting the copycat, which would give him or her the chance to take any action that is not in your favor.
#2 Verify there is no citation or reference
Double-check and confirm that there is no credit, quotation, or reference to avoid any false accusation, and save any unnecessary misunderstanding or embarrassment.
#3 Get proof
If this is a book or any offline print media, save a copy. And if your work is being copied online, make sure you screenshot and save everything you see that is violating plagiarism. This step is crucial in supporting your claim, in case the other party argues otherwise, or worse, remove all the evidence online.
#4 Reach out and state your legal rights
Now that you have all your proof, reach out with the proof you’ve collected. Restate your legal rights, and any specific action you would like the other party to take, along with how you plan to proceed next. In our case, an official Letter of Cease and Deceased was sent.
#5 Give other people credit where it is due
Get into the habit of giving people credit where it is due. Plagiarism happens more often then we think, so let’s make sure we do not partake in copying others without giving them the proper credit.
#6 Outperform the copycats
Plagiarism has been more prevalent than ever, especially with the rise of online information. If you are the victim of plagiarism, I’d like to encourage you to also see it from a different perspective as you take the proper action steps above.
When someone copies you, it means he or she does not have the ability to do what you do and create what you can. This is another proof and affirmation that your work is valuable. The copycats are and will always be on the hamster wheel of self-doubts, fear, a lack of confidence, while you hold the power and talent to create and make changes happen through your work!
We are thankful for the supportive and encouraging women in our community who were alongside us through this incident, bringing tremendous awareness to this issue of plagiarism and piracy.
I also went LIVE to address this issue and provided an update.
Here is the replay:
I’d never want this to happen to anyone else! But if something similar happens to you, make sure you reach out and raise your concerns.
Never forget that You have FULL rights to your work, your ideas, and your voice!
Don’t forget to grab your seat at our FREE training, so you know how to grow your profitable brand people love AND a loyal customer community who keep buying from you!