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Plagiarism clarification?


kpilbeam

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Hello,



First off… I understand that the buyer has all the rights to the work unless otherwise is stated in the gig description.



My gig is a technical blog post. The buyer sends me a description what the blog should be written about and I respond with a .doc file of my original take on the subject.



I’ve had 8 of 9 orders from the same buyer (great!)… but I recently discovered he is the CEO of a company and posting these blog posts on his blog stating that he is the author. I don’t have a problem with him using the posts obviously, and I don’t mind not getting credit… but I feel like it’s wrong to state that you wrote something that you didn’t. Is there something in the Terms of Service or anything I missed where they can use the work but can’t claim it as their own? Has anyone else encountered a situation like this?



Thanks,

KP

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Hey there,

I’ll try my best to clarify this for you and give my perspective about it.

I am one of the many people who have a writing gig, here on Fiverr. Until now, I’ve had more than 100 orders on it (including multiples).



I personally do not really care what is done with the work after I submit it. As long as my customer is happy with my writing and has nothing to say against it, I feel like I have finished all my duties for that specific order. I still have all my articles stored, due to the fact that some buyers may ask me to resend the work, in case they lose it. If I go ahead and scan each one for plagiarism, I am sure to find where most of them go.



I tried this once for curiosity purposes and found out where my market was headed off mostly.



I believe that most of the writers here on Fiverr can go by the name of ghostwriters. We get payed to do a certain amount of writing WITHOUT leaving our name on it and claiming rights. This way, a buyer can buy something from me with $5 and re-sell it with $50. As I am a ghostwriter, it is my duty not to claim ownership of any writings I send out to my customers. I may wonder what they do with the work (trust me, I’ve had some pretty weird orders), but I do not think it should be a demand for someone who has bought something from you to post your name as the author. Of course, it would be nice, but it is not a necessity, as long as the buyer needed the work for a certai purpose.



It is a completely different story if the author of an article demands his name/signature to be put wherever the article goes.



Just my input. I hope it makes sense 😛

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@kpilbeam



Hi,



ToS aside (which says Buyer has all rights, unless otherwise specified), I think you’ve got to come to terms with your views on your work.



For instance… if someone HIRES AND PAYS me to write a radio or tv commercial, a video sales pitch, a jingle, a song lyric, whatever and tells their boss or client that they wrote it, well… under the terms of the sale, I don’t have any problem with that. It’s called a “work for hire” and it happens everyday in thousands of industries.



There is nothing “wrong” with it. Ghost writers do books and others claim authorship for them. Song writers, article writers, web writers, screen play writers all do it.



It’s not plagiarism if they hired you to write it.



Good luck! 🙂


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Hi, I make whiteboard and blackboard videos of company logos, as well as video cards for all occasions. I have no problem with the Buyer/s claiming my work as their own. In all truthfulness I’m just grateful for the business and try to ensure my customers get the best service I can offer.

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This is pretty much standard in business. Examples: Coca Cola ads are done by Coca Cola they’re done by a production company. The idea might be created by a marketing company, and Coke pays for both of them. The end result is an ad promoting Coke, they take all the credit as they paid for it. Does that make sense?

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  • 1 year later...

§ 201 . Ownership of copyright1



(b) Works Made for Hire. — In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.



http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html




http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap2.html/about/images/copyright-header.png

U.S. Copyright Office

http://www.copyright.gov



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The way I look at it is, the CEO of the company I work for sends out emails from time to time. Every now and again they are quite long. Everyone in the company knows that this CEO does not write these emails. His receptionist or assistant does and he reviews and approves them then signs his name to them. It’s basically the same thing.



I understand where you are coming from though. It can feel a little weird to see stuff you wrote with someone else’s name on it…

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