WWW.TALKOFNAIJA.COM JUST STOLE OUR ARTICLE. HOW DO WE SUE THEM?

Original Article Link: http://www.iroy.in/nigerian-footballers-market-value/


Stolen Article Link: http://www.talkofnaija.com/index.php/component/noticeboard/?view=noticeboard&id=1490

We've mailed them but they failed to respond.(See attachment)

Someone from TalkofNaija.com just replied with this:

> Sorry about that, the news was put up by a different admin, and he is not
> in right now! My admin can only let me edit the page, so am going to add
> links that would link to your site for more details, this wud increase
> your site views!
>
> Thank you! and Sorry once more

See our Legal personnel response below.

No. Don't LINK to our site. DELETE the article NOW.

It's like TalkofNaija.com wants trouble o

lol

I wonder why they would post an article on their site without adding the original source of the article. They now want to add the source because they got caught.

afam4eva: lol

I wonder why they would post an article on their site without adding the original source of the article. They now want to add the source because they got caught.

What do you suggest?

Things like this happens all the time..

Once saw my blog post with my contact details in another blog... the blogger didn't remove my contacts below the articles... .

Sounds funny...

Trust Nigerians ... We are incredible

Just accept the credit they want to put at the end of the post

ibietela2: Just accept the credit they want to put at the end of the post

na wah oh very simple sth like dat!!

ibietela2: Just accept the credit they want to put at the end of the post

He accepts that and from then on he has practically given the thieves license to keep stealing his articles as long as they add a link back to the source.

Dual Core:
He accepts that and from then on he has practically given the thieves license to keep stealing his articles as long as they add a link back to the source.

I support you! The person that posts fro that site on Facebook uses "Don Jazzy" as page name, and that's impersonation!
I dont trust that site, its HIGH time to redefine things.

Ok.... Lets kill him. This is one of the reason i dnt want to enter the entertainment niche

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Accept the backlink, this isn't uncommon.

Plagiarism is a serious issue. As of mid-2012, not less than 5 government officials in Europe (including ministers, prime ministers and presidents) were accused of plagiarism. At least three were forced to resign as of July 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18962349

This shows how serious it is to copy intellectual material from a source WITHOUT properly crediting the original authors. It does not matter if this intellectual property goes into a PhD thesis, a public speech or an article. Plagiarism is simply theft of written/creative material.

Now based on the issue at hand before your lordship (i.e. Iroy.in vs Talkofnaija.com), methinks that defendants (talkofnaija.com) are probably another fame-hungry, fan-starving and advert-revenue-seeking webportal who did not mind plagiarizing other people's work in order to draw web traffic (and advert revenue) to their website. From their initial response (above) I doubt that whoever stole the article knew (or knows) the impact and seriousness of plagiarism. I mean, this is Nigeria after all where we hardly indict or convict people who steal billions, how much more people who steal an online article?

Having said that, the original authors or plaintiff in this case (Iroy.in) ought to know that in the web publishing business, there is mutual benefit in sharing materials AS LONG AS originality is credited. Therefore, it is not a bad idea to accept the offer to (a) credit/name your website as the original source and (b) create a backlink to the site. The reason is that people tend to know websites from OTHER websites. Sometimes fame, fans and revenue come from secondary sources (other websites). Yet, I understand your pain. It is very annoying to work hard on original material, only for someone to steal or even share the glory via the world wide web. There is a solution, nevertheless.

What you need to do henceforth, is to create a caveat (warning) on your website, that any external website, online paper, online forum or webportal that wishes to use your articles shall only do so on two conditions which are: (1) they credit your website as the source; (2) they MUST not copy (word-for-word) more than 2 paragraphs (or equivalent of 200 words) of the original article. That way, if Sahara Reporters, for example, are interested in your article, they can only give their readers a glimpse; forcing them to go to original source for the full article. Your web traffic will still be assured.

Without this condition allowing people to copy some of your work, you will lose the opportunity to popularize your website through crediting and backlinking. If you however put this condition conspicuously on every webpage (e.g. the footer at the bottom) then your case for compensation would be strong, if litigation or arbitration arises.

Anyone in breach of your terms is then liable for the full extent of the legal action which you bear upon them. Some may ask: how can you take legal action on a website that steals a story - when the owners are not physically present? Simple. Perform what is called 'a who-is search' on the domain and find the address (and phone number) of the person who registered the domain name. You and your lawyers can then take it from there. For example, to know who is the owner/administrator of talkofnaija.com, simple visit this link: http://www.whois.com/whois/talkofnaija.com

As of time of writing this response, I note that talkofnaija.com have deleted your article. Good for them. But again, you need to make friends and not enemies among fellow webmasters. You need each other, eventually - Just as you needed Nairaland when you wanted a shoulder to cry after your article was stolen.

All the best.

drzed: Plagiarism is a serious issue. As of mid-2012, not less than 5 government officials in Europe (including ministers, prime ministers and presidents) were accused of plagiarism. At least three were forced to resign as of July 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18962349

This shows how serious it is to copy intellectual material from a source WITHOUT properly crediting the original authors. It does not matter if this intellectual property goes into a PhD thesis, a public speech or an article. Plagiarism is simply theft of written/creative material.

...................

DrZed, thank you for taking time to review this 'case' and proffering solutions. I've gained. Thanks

Its very simple to steal an article. Get a copy and put it in any online article spinner, it will give you a full version free article. I use the spinbot tool that is very easy and fast.

Instead, it does all the questioning for you, from taking in the context of article rewriter every phrase to developing extra text this is as readable and vast because the textual content you first off entered.