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How do you feel when someone’s copied your ideas? And not given you credit? I’ve become a little suspicious – even paranoid – that some of my articles here have been the inspiration for some recent A-list bloggers’ posts. So what if they have. A smart little man has helped me to realize that the Internet and especially the blogging world are community oriented. Do you have a great, unique idea that may make you rich? Well, don’t blog about it.
Share and Share Alike
Bloggers typically scour the Internet for ideas to write about. While copying and pasting text directly from someone’s site is illegal (U.S.), reading a post and writing up your own slant or reinterpretation isn't. Don’t be afraid that if you start blogging someone will take your ideas and remix them; expect it. Welcome it. Hope that they give you props and maybe even some back-links. But if they don’t, be flattered that your work inspires someone else. “The greatest compliment is emulation.”
Nobody Owns Ideas
General ideas and commonly known facts don’t receive protection from copyright or patent laws. I’ve had what I thought were original, exclusive ideas and later found out they’d already been in print for hundreds of years. Discovering an idea that is new to myself, even if entirely on my own, doesn’t mean I can take widespread credit for its discovery.
While patents and copyrights have their place, I’m glad ideas don’t receive that legal protection. Or at least, they didn’t in the past. Think of the stranglehold corporate moguls would have on creativity and progress if they cornered all applications of a general idea. Facebook just got a patent for a “newsfeed” from any type of social networking site. TiVo won lawsuits against DISH Network for the general idea of recording live TV to a hard disk. Don’t be evil.
Been There, Done That
With a little digging I found some popular bloggers’ insights about trying to monopolize ideas. Brian Clark (of all people) wrote about how to steal content ideas from other sources. He points out that “Your new idea most likely isn’t.” He’s not suggesting plagiarism.
Seth Godin gave some great advice about how to protect your ideas in the digital world:
“So, how to protect your ideas in a world where ideas spread? Don't. Instead, spread them.” -Seth Godin
So, to survive blogging, see the day that someone copies your ideas and rehashes them on the Internet as a milestone, not a setback. And then, if by chance they’ve copied and pasted your writing verbatim onto their site, file a copyright infringement notice and sue the hell out of them.
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Thursday, 11 March 2010