Blogger Looking for a Good IP Attorney
Steve Pavlina author of the Personal Development Blog - Steve Pavlina faces a dilemma. He has become a published author (sort of) without intending to be. As he puts it:
"I recently learned that a book was published last year that includes plagiarized copies of at least two of my articles...
This was done without my permission, and no credit was given to me in the book. The author is passing off my work as his own. This book is currently still selling both online and in bookstores and was published by a major book publisher. I wrote these articles years before the book was published. They’ve been very popular online, each read by tens of thousands of people.
This wasn’t just a case of borrowing ideas, which would be perfectly legal, since mere ideas aren’t copyrightable. The book reproduced most of my text verbatim, paragraph for paragraph, word for word — at least six pages total (it could be more though, since I haven’t scanned the whole book yet). Even my personal stories were included with minimal rewording to make them seem as if they were the author’s own. Imagine someone trying to resell your memories and personal experiences as his own. Reminds me of an old Seinfeld episode where J. Peterman tries to buy Kramer’s memories….
There are several different ways I could pursue this, but I haven’t yet decided whether I want to go the full legal route or try a different approach. Nevertheless, if anyone here can recommend a good IP attorney (or is one) with experience in copyright infringement, please let me know."
I was wondering whether the IP attorneys who read this blog would be interested in helping Steve or offering suggestions as to what his best options are. If you respond to my post or post to your own blog, I will forward the responses to Steve. You may also wish to contact Steve directly as he requested.
