Answer to stolen concept?

[bktheirregular]

I griped about this last month.

Stolen concept?

So today I look back at the private review I left for Visionary.

Looks like I got an answer.

Comments from author:
For the record - I have not claimed Tarithna is mine - everyone who has asked, and their has been a number has been told the same thing. Its not mine, but i read one HELL of a lot of crossovers, and I have NO idea where it comes from. If i knew, i would cheerfully put up a note about it, but i dont.

And yes, I am more than well aware about plagerism, theres this nice little form we have to read and sign about it every time we have to hand some work in. At least one person was kicked form the Chemistry department in recent years because of it.

For which I have a couple or three things to say:

1) Google, numbskull.
2) Check out any fic associated with the user-ID of the person who left that review, hmm?

So what now?

Comments

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

Oookay. So she knows she stole it, but since she doesn't remember who she stole it from, that makes it not stealing, even though "a number have asked," indicating that other people have already pointed out that it was taken from someone else's story, all somehow without mentioning which story they thought it was taken from? Uh huh. So basically she knows she lifted it, it's been pointed out to her before, but she just hasn't bothered to do anything about it. If it was me, I'd reply to her that it was taken from my story, and I'd appreciate it if she'd note that somewhere. If she has any sense whatsoever, she'll do it, as it's an easy solution.

[bktheirregular]

Yeah. This person seems to have ... I don't know. Something off.

I replied thusly:

FYI:

The term "Tarithna" (actually "Tarith'na") can be traced back to the crossover "The Scarab", which has been archived since this past fall here on TtH, as well as being on fanfiction.net, Shriftweb, Heliopolis, and other locations for over a year.

A prominent acknowledgement would be appropriate, in the beginning of the story, or in the story description. Otherwise, there's an implicit claim that the ideas in your story are your own (this is why there are generally prominent disclaimers in the headers of most fan fiction, to acknowledge that the characters and situations from canon do not belong to the writer).

To distill this down to its absolute essentials: the concept originated in my story, and I have found myself defending against questions over whether I stole the concept from elsewhere. This is not an acceptable situation.

The only problem is, I don't know if this rises to the level of plagiarism. I'm just more than a little annoyed at this person's apparent laziness.

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's technically plagiarism, but I do think she's engaging in very sloppy "borrowing" from other stories. It might not seem like a big deal that she took the original concept and the word you made up to describe it, but it's a good place to draw the line before it gets any worse.

I don't know if this is similar to my situation or not, but the person who was using one of my OCs without permission hadn't just planned to do it the once, she was planning to write sequels to my stories, and since her characterization was fairly vomit-worthy, I didn't want them to be associated with her. She's the kind of person who misbehaves and pushes at people until she's called on it, and I didn't want to encourage that kind of behavior. This chick you're dealing with is at the very least guilty of sloppy thinking and if she has to face even a mild consequence to her actions, that's a good thing. Ack, I know I'm starting to sound like I'm lecturing, and I don't mean to, but basically I think you have a right to be annoyed, and a right to get on her case a little about it by asking for an acknowledgement.

[bktheirregular]

Well, it seems to have worked - there's an author's note now tacked on the end of "Visionary" that acknowledges the source of "Tarith'na". Still doesn't change the fact that it was used without permission, though - and this author isn't going to *get* future permission from me, I don't think.

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

Yay, glad it worked! Hopefully she'll think twice next time, or at least credit the people she's "borrowing" from.