Zen Garden > Article Writing - Original Work VERSUS Cloned Revamps of Other Authors' Copyrighted Materials

Recently there has been much debate over the moral and legal rights of people to take the copyrighted works of another author, alter it to mask its true ownership and then put their name on it as though it were an original piece. DON'T do it! Apart from identifying yourself as a THIEF there are other bad outcomes for people engaging in this insidious practice. Read on...

In my opinion, and certainly in the opinion of so many other authors, this form of cloning and "re-birthing" is plain and simple stealing.

There now exists software that will enable a piece of writing to be re-hashed, re-worked and changed in such a way that it "appears" to be a new article. Synonymous words are substituted, the paragraph order is switched and other changes are made to "cloak" the original article and re-birth it.

This is SO wrong! It is wrong legally and it is wrong ethically and morally. It is a TERRIBLE invasion of copyright. The damage that it does to the author is inestimable. But what is the damage that this sort of thing does to the plagiarist?

The plagiarist or copier - heck, let's just call this person what they really are - the thief, is now masquerading as the owner of the work. For whatever reason, the thief has decided that it is OK to commit fraud. The thief is taking credit for material that is NOT his or her own. It never will be. If they had to produce another article they would be unable to do it without the aid of their cheating software.

The thief has no original thoughts, no original ideas and no original method of expression. He or she is baseless.

Stealing copyright, whether the original work is substantially altered or just cosmetically changed to make it look slightly different is still cheating. It is still theft.

For those misguided people who think that cheating like this is acceptable then please understand this. Copyright theft is punishable at law. Copyright protection of intellectual property is international. There are no boundaries. So, if you live on planet earth and you steal copyright from someone else then you can be charged and, if found guilty, you will have to pay a penalty. Don't say you haven't been warned. Also, ignorance of the fact is NO defense.

Now here is another thing for copyright thieves to consider...

What if the article that YOU want to steal has ALREADY been subjected to copyright theft? When you substitute various words and re-order the paragraphs and sentencing, via one of these dreadful pieces of cheating software, how can you be sure that you are not simply going to REVERSE what the first thief has already done?

You may very well be adding your name to an article that is SO similar to the original article that you will be charged with BLATANT copyright theft. Have you thought about that?

The best way to avoid being charged with copyright theft is to write ORIGINAL articles. Nothing short of that is safe. Nothing less than that is morally or ethically acceptable.

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Gary Simpson is the author of nine books covering a diverse range of subjects such as motivation, self esteem, affirmations, self defense, wealth creation and much more. His many motivation and success articles appear all over the web.

Gary Simpson is a 7th Dan karate master who teaches self defense, motivation, self help and wealth building to students around the world through home study courses. You may reprint this article as you include this author credit and an active link to his web site. Finance - Self Help - Motivation - Self Defense - Personal Growth MotivationSelfEsteem.com