# Need Help Tracking Down the Author Using a Stolen Cover



## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Hi guys,

I have a situation I sure could use help with. I am trying to track down contact information for an author who appears to have taken the cover of my book and used it for his own. I own the copyright, and while he did make a few alterations, I believe it is clear his intention is to fool my readers into thinking his book is somehow part of my bestselling series.

My book: http://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-Character-Expression-ebook/dp/B00822WM2M/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1336606906

His book: http://www.amazon.com/INTERNET-MARKETING-THESAURUS-Internet-Marketer-ebook/dp/B00JRG30ZA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1398698247&sr=1-1

Not only has he used our cover, but he's also gone the added mile to call his book a "thesaurus" to further make it seem as if his book is somehow a part of our series, or that it is affiliated somehow. His book is not a thesaurus in any sense of the word, has no teaching content, and simply is a list of dictionary definitions like "HTML" and "Website." Another red flag? The book starts off with a legal disclaimer, telling me he's trying to safeguard himself from angry readers when they discover the book has so little value.

We have three books in this series so far, establishing a clear brand through our covers & titles:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Emotion-Thesaurus-Character-Expression/dp/1475004958/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336606906&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/The-Negative-Trait-Thesaurus-Character/dp/0989772500/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1CM34J3532JP98FPGMBV
http://www.amazon.com/The-Positive-Trait-Thesaurus-Attributes-ebook/dp/B00FVZDVS2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1446ZP4QKADD40NWY8XP

Obviously, it's important I get this book taken down--I would hate for our readers to be taken in, thinking this book is somehow part of our series. My co-author contacted Writer Beware, and they suggested contacting Amazon because they are trying to crack down on fake book content, which I have done. They are going to investigate the book, and encouraged us to talk to the BBB.

Of course want to contact the author to get this book taken down. Matt Phillips is listed on the cover, but it also names Jay Burke at Amazon as a co-author. Jay has another book, [email protected] Success Secrets: 11 Tactics to Sell More Books, Make More Money and Dominate, published 2 days after the Internet Marketing one. So whether these are two different people, or the same guy writing under a pseudonym, I don't know.

I have tried searching for both people, but am coming up empty. There are no amazon author pages, and no mentions I can find online of either book as a guest post or review that links to the author. I did find one link through the image to this site: http://insidetips.howmuchismywebsite.com/tools-and-resources/internet-marketing-thesaurus-words-terms-phrases-every-internet-marketer-should-know/ and it is paired with yet another book published in April 2014 by a Geoff Thomerson, making me wonder if this too is the same person.

I feel like I'm running in circles.  Does anyone have any other ideas on what else I can try to track down the author of a book?

Thanks so much,

Angela


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

locking while under review.

After discussion, the thread is unlocked.

My initial reaction is this is something you need to take up with Amazon, but no doubt some others will have some ideas of responsible ways to deal with the situation.

A caution, however: there will be no nastiness allowed. So if you have constructive suggestions for Angela, that's fine. If all you want to do is badmouth the other person, that's not.


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## kcochran (Apr 30, 2012)

I don't think a bookcover design itself can be copyrighted (but I am no expert).  Now had you been able to trademark or service mark the look of the cover that might have been different.  Also, I don't think it is technically piracy unless it has the exact content of your book.  Because of this, you might want to be careful about your remark on that page (to protect yourself).

On the plus side, you are much higher up in the rankings than their book so that is good.  I would also write something in your description to tell people to make sure they look for the "writers helping writers" emblem (if that is a copyrighted image of yours) to ensure they are getting a genuine book that belongs to the series.  Then if that person uses your copyright image you of course can take action at least to get them to remove that image.

I write mysteries so of course I couldn't resist trying to find this guy or guys.  But alas, none of the imprints really showed up on Google other than on Amazon.  

I would definitely contact Amazon though and see if there is anything they can do about it.

I hope you are able to get it all worked out.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Angela, 
That truly sucks.
On the bright side, I had your first book and didn't know you had two others out. So I bought both in print!
Hope you get this situation handled to your satisfaction.


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

kcochran said:


> I don't think a bookcover design itself can be copyrighted (but I am no expert).


Of course it's copyrighted!


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## Keith Soares (Jan 9, 2014)

I would think that Amazon would *want* to help you with this.

You - author with proven track record and sales

The other party - obvious attempt to lift your style and questionable sales

The thing I would make sure to do is to SPEAK to someone at Amazon, not just get in the endless queue of email threads. Make sure someone is looking into this and doing something about it. Amazon controls their entire product database and can easily turn off a single product or an entire vendor if they think it is warranted or in their best interest (or both).

It is unfortunately commonplace. In my 'day job', I've seen my entire company website ripped off and repurposed. I've see entire brands lifted to try to make a quick buck before anyone finds out.

From what you describe, it sounds like this person may be a serial offender, taking simple content and putting it in association with a known success to make some money. Usually, in my experience, these people tend to run and hide when confronted, so I expect any direct confrontation will result in the book disappearing. However, the serial offenders typically crop up again, doing the same thing to someone else later on.

Good luck with it all
K.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> Of course it's copyrighted!


The exact book cover can be copyrighted, but it's not the same book cover. It's a completely different cover that uses all the same elements and the same general look and feel. Pretty sure that can't be copyrighted. That's something that I believe can be trademarked if it identifies your brand. I'm not sure if the fact that it's a separate field (internet marketing vs. writing) would affect that. You'd also have to have done so, there's no automatic trademark in the way there's an automatic copyright.

Looking at the sales rank, I wouldn't put a great deal of effort into worrying about it.

Edit: btw I don't want to imply this is morally ok. It's not. It's one thing to take a few general ideas, but this is a hardcore copy job. I just don't know if you have actual legal recourse in the court of law sense.


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for responding (and all the private messages!) I really appreciate it. Yes, our cover is copyrighted, and while his is not exactly the same, my understanding is for it to be classified as a derivative work, there needs to be the element of originality to the other person's cover. I don't know that one could say that there is an original element here, especially since he also chose to call his book a "thesaurus" (and it clearly is not, either creative or otherwise) which makes it appear this was very likely an attempt to cash in on our brand. (I'm not an expert in this area or what recourse exists for this situation and would likely need a professional to weigh in on where things stand.)

The suggestion that our readers look for the WHW logo is a really great one--thank you (and yes, that also belongs to us). We are currently applying it to The Emotion Thesaurus cover (digital copies are up to date, but the print still needs to be updated) as we commissioned that logo when we created our website and released our two new books. I'm going to fast track that.

@Keith, I talked to Amazon on the phone for the exact reason you stated...I didn't want my request to be lost, and I find talking to someone in person at Amazon is usually the best way to make sure your communicating the exact issue correctly. They said they'd get back to us in a day or two, and so when they do I'll post here to update. That way, if someone else runs onto something similar down the road, all the info is here. (@Kcochran, just so you know, I actually haven't said anything on his page regarding the book--a few others started a discussion of their own accord, and it was actually one of our book readers who discovered this book and brought it to my attention.)

Speaking of, here are some useful links for this situation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/08/2011/not-a-good-week-for-harper-collins-cover-art-rip-off/

I hope this helps.  Thank you all again, really appreciate it!

(@L.L. ROTF, too funny. Thanks and I hope you find them just as helpful as the ET--let me know how it goes! )


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## KarlYork (Jan 14, 2014)

It is a bit of a pain, but I don't think there's very much you can do about this. Of course, it's probably worth flagging it up with Amazon to see if they might decide to take some action.

But if you do not have any of that "branding" registered, then your next step would be the common law tort of 'passing off'. This probably wouldn't work because the other man is not misrepresenting his product as being yours, or related to yours. The two books appear to be in different niches. This being the case, Amazon might not be too concerned because of the so-called "moron in a hurry" scenario; any man or woman wishing to buy your book would read the title and see that it is entirely different to that of the other book.

It's definitely not "cool" that he practically lifted your design elements (the blue of his is different to yours if you check it out using a colour identifier program like Pixie). At least he won't sell many copies, as his Look Inside bit ends just as you reach the Contents page! lol. Your energies and talents are probably best spent on your next book, or keep plugging away at marketing and promoting this one.

Refs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_off & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moron_in_a_hurry


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Angela Ackerman said:


> (@L.L. ROTF, too funny. Thanks and I hope you find them just as helpful as the ET--let me know how it goes! )


Helpful is an understatement! My 2nd book is so much better because of you! I just wish I'd known of it when I wrote the first one


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

There is a very clear copyright infringement in this case.  That's like rewriting Harry Potter and changing all the character names and using different words but keeping the plot exactly the same.  It doesn't have to be the precise same thing for infringement.


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## Chrisbwritin (Jan 28, 2014)

Angela- Sorry to hear this happened, and I hope you get it worked out. I don't have anything useful to add, but wanted to say that I also have the E.T. and thinks it's FAB and recommend it every chance I get.


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## Michelle Maibelle (Oct 24, 2013)

I've been wanting to get your book for awhile now! Hope this whole thing gets resolved for you.


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## fallswriter (Sep 11, 2012)

And now I've discovered your books! Have bought all 3!!!! Hope you get where you want with the Zon!


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## Cheryl M. (Jan 11, 2011)

Oh no, ladies. That's awful. I'm a big fan of the thesauruses!


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

Totally nothing to do with the cover issue, but i was hoping you'd appify your books (particularly if they could operate as a plug-in to word processing programs).


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm sorry to hear of this, Angela. I have all three of your thesauruses (love them, by the way) and might easily have mistaken this for one of yours, based on that cover. It's a clear attempt to piggyback on your brand but I don't think there's much you can do, aside from notifying Amazon. I've seen a couple cover copyright violations on Amazon in the past and have noticed they were removed eventually - presumably as a result of complaints. Hopefully Amazon will act quickly on this one.


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## AshMP (Dec 30, 2009)

That sucks, but sadly I have to echo others and say there is very little you can do. These things, unfortunately, happen. A while ago I was looking for a stock photo for my book and came across an amazing piece on a big, expensive site. I always google search the images I like, so I did that with the image and it turned out there was already a Big 5 book with the cover. I could have bought it, and truthfully almost did buy it, but ultimately changed my mind. It would have been perfectly legal for me to do so, I would have been well within my rights and although the covers would have been practical mirrors of each other, there would have been nothing the publisher or writer could have done. 

I hope you get the resolution you want!


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Of course covers are copyrighted! And Amazon is very helpful in this regard. I've had a stolen cover from an author who did not pay me or respond to my emails removed from Amazon as well as from Barnes & Noble. You just have to go through the proper legal procedures and provide a DMCA Takedown notice, and they will investigate the matter. Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports/infringement

Oh, and that is the advantage of using well-designed, composite covers made up of several images! No one can point to a stock website and simply say "but I purchased the image there" - because no one will have the exact composite cover for sale...


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## SWF (Jun 14, 2011)

Wow, that is pretty blatant. I don't know the legal specifics but I can't see that Amazon will allow it to stay up.

On the bright side, I think I'm the third person on this thread who loved your first book and didn't know you had more out. 

>>trots back to Amazon to order the rest of Angela's books<<


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## Pete Joison (Apr 26, 2014)

Melody Simmons said:


> Oh, and that is the advantage of using well-designed, composite covers made up of several images! No one can point to a stock website and simply say "but I purchased the image there" - because no one will have the exact composite cover for sale...


Well put Melody. Totally agree.


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## Paul Huxley (Feb 27, 2014)

I just have to say that I don't think there is enough similarity between the two covers for it to be illegal. They are trying to rip you off, no question, but the covers are indisputably different. If anything the cover has been retro-engineered, which is entirely acceptable (from a legal standpoint). Your title cannot be copyrighted, much like anyone can call their cereal corn flakes, even though we know that they aren't 'Kellogg's' Corn Flakes.

It's unfortunate but not unlike the hundreds of copycat Twilight rip-offs. Check the sigs of all the authors on this site and see if you see an original cover (including mine).


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Thank you all for weighing in, and pointing me to links to follow up on. I am hopeful that Amazon will assist with this--they have been pretty good in the past with fixing issues, not that there have been many. I agree, creating a cover comprised of several images is smart. We bought rights to the word scramble for the ET and had a designer do the rest. I think the WHW logo being added will help too. We're in process of having that added to all our covers as I said, and only have the ET print version left to do. We just need to wait until the start of next month because the book will be pulled from Amazon, and at the end of the month is when we see bulk orders come in from various other retailers so we want to make sure those aren't affected. 

Even though I don't know if I can force the author to change the cover, I do feel so much better just coming to you guys for help. Sounds like I am not the only one who has seen this happen. It is weird what people do sometimes. Another guy is selling a book that is a list of Amazon reviews for The Emotion Thesaurus...and who would buy that? Makes no sense. 

And holy gosh, thank you for the kind word about this series--you guys are the best! So glad you're all getting good use out of them and that they help out with brainstorming when you need it. I hope those of you who grabbed the new books find them just as helpful as the Emotion Thesaurus--let me know how it goes   

have a great day  

Angela


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2014)

For those who are saying that covers cannot be protected by copyright: this is fundamentally false. And in this specific case, we are talking about more than copyright. This is a trade dress issue, which falls under trademark. I don't know if the OP has formally registered the trade dress, but like copyright it isn't a requirement to enforce (though like copyright you miss out on a lot of additional protections if it is not registered). Considering the strong branding Angela has for this product line and that this is an obvious attempt to misdirect customers to a competing product, I would think it would be worth contacting an attorney if Amazon doesn't come through.


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## Oscar Arias (Dec 17, 2013)

vmblack said:


> There is a very clear copyright infringement in this case. That's like rewriting Harry Potter and changing all the character names and using different words but keeping the plot exactly the same. It doesn't have to be the precise same thing for infringement.


Well, so much for that idea...

** Throws out his newly created masterpeice "*Larry Sotter and the Magician's Rock*" ***


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## EllisaBarr (Apr 22, 2014)

I'm so excited to find your books!  Especially the one to help with negative traits.  I want to get it on kindle, but in the previews I don't see a Table of Contents in the preview, only in the hardcopy.  Is there one but it's not displayed?  I just want to be sure first.

Can't wait to get started on some better bad guys.


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## KarlYork (Jan 14, 2014)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> For those who are saying that covers cannot be protected by copyright: this is fundamentally false. And in this specific case, we are talking about more than copyright. This is a trade dress issue, which falls under trademark. I don't know if the OP has formally registered the trade dress, but like copyright it isn't a requirement to enforce (though like copyright you miss out on a lot of additional protections if it is not registered). Considering the strong branding Angela has for this product line and that this is an obvious attempt to misdirect customers to a competing product, I would think it would be worth contacting an attorney if Amazon doesn't come through.


I haven't re-read the thread, but I don't think anyone was suggesting it is not possible to copyright a book cover; simply that this is not a case of copyright infringement since the covers are different. They've got different titles, different authors, different background images (though similar in "feel") and different colour schemes (though similar in "feel").

Having the brand covered by a registered mark would make things easier I imagine, but would presumably require (?) explicit registration of exact colour shades (the RGB numbers). I checked these two covers and the shades of blue are different, so there would be no infringement anyway.

What you call "the trade dress", I normally refer to as "the feel" of the cover. (And I'll concede there might be a whole hornets' nest of difference between how these things are handled in USA, Canada and UK.) Without the paper work it's the end of the road for legal "courts" (IMO) and onto the Law Courts, a move to common law and Passing Off (as I mentioned in my post above).

Passing Off (from what I can tell reading about it) is not interested in the cover designs; it is interested in whether the other author misrepresented his product in order to steal income from the OP. For example, if the OP was the creator/designer of Louis Vuitton handbags, and then I came along and made similar-looking handbags and called them Lewis Vuitton (or Louis Vuiton, or Louis Viutton or whatever) then I'm passing off, or falsely representing my product as being the OP's and leeching away goodwill. In short, it is theft.

I'm not sure if, in this case, it is enough to make an accusation that the other author is similarly misrepresenting OP's book simply because he has a book with a similar looking cover. A customer of average intelligence will not be looking for a book on "Literary reference" in the Business & Finance section of a bookstore, nor buy a book called "Internet Marketing" (or whatever) thinking (s)he is buying a book on writing and characterisation.

But anyway, I hope Amazon finds a solution for OP that is proper and acceptable. (I just don't think this other book will do any damage as long as Amazon ensures the two books never appear together in the same Categories!)


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## KarlYork (Jan 14, 2014)

Oscar Arias said:


> Well, so much for that idea...
> 
> ** Throws out his newly created masterpeice "*Larry Sotter and the Magician's Rock*" ***


LOL. It has been posited for many years that the Harry Potter books (or certain ones) are direct plots from Star Wars, just with the characters and the words changed. But yah, Barry Rotter the Magician might not be a very safe book to write. Ha ha.

http://www.theforce.net/rouser/essays/harry-potter.asp

I even have a huge tome called "The Seven Basic Plots" - and that's it. There are only seven basic plots, and all stories can be deconstructed back to one of them (principally).


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## Blue Kincaid (Dec 30, 2013)

It's not that covers aren't under copyright, it's that this other author didn't steal her cover. He stole the *idea* of her cover. Recreated it with his own elements and that makes it perfectly legal. Lazy and crappy, but legal. He's not even trying to steal sales, because the books are in completely different genres and about different things. Maybe if his was a book about emotions, you'd have a leg to stand on legally, but he's talking about internet marketing, which is such a huge leap that I can't imagine what kind of person would mistake the two. They wouldn't even both come up in the same search results. I'd say the guy or his cover artist saw your cover somewhere, loved the concept (which is very clever) and made their own version.


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2014)

Blue Kincaid said:


> It's not that covers aren't under copyright, it's that this other author didn't steal her cover. He stole the *idea* of her cover.





KarlYork said:


> What you call "the trade dress", I normally refer to as "the feel" of the cover.


In the U.S. trade dress is a legal, recognized term. In the OP's case, the covers aren't just covers. They are serving as brand tools to provide a visual cue to readers that these books are all part of the same brand series. It is a protected part of trademark. Just go ahead and try to name your new toothpaste Colfate's and put it in a red box and see how fast Colgate sends you a cease and desist letter. Major companies don't play when people rip off their trade dress. I work in contract packaging. Believe me, this stuff is no joke. It isn't legal. It is just a matter of enforcement. In order for it to violate trade dress, it doesn't have to be an exact duplicate product. It only needs to have the appearance of confusion in the marketplace. Would a reasonable, average customer who was familiar with the core brand think this product was part of the product line if seen side by side? The answer is yes. Anyone familiar with the core brand would glance at that and make the assumption that it was part of the series. If I make a product called iScissors and mimicked Apple's packaging, how quickly do you with Apple would shut me down despite the fact that they don't sell scissors?

This is why I suggested that if Amazon doesn't respond, the OP should consult an attorney who can handle these sort of issues. Trade dress is a complex but important part of trademark protection and not something one should just shrug their shoulders over and ignore when your business brand depends on it.


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

It seems like people are split as to whether I have a case or not here. The issue is not the book content (although it may be an issue for Amazon as it's nothing more than a list of dictionary terms, and I had thought they were cracking down on that sort of thing), but the cover. The question is how much can a person mimic before it becomes an infringement. I really don't know the answer. Interesting that the blue color is just slightly off as to the naked eye (at least mine) it seems to be the same. But it is different. And the scramble has been altered, the paint smudges also slightly as well. Yet there is a clear attempt to appear tied to my branded series in my mind, both through such close mimickry of the cover, and the fact they call this a "thesaurus." Honestly, it is that small fact that bugs me the most.

AMAZON UPDATE

I received this letter:

Hello,

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Amazon.com's copyright agent the written information specified below. This procedure is exclusively for notifying Amazon.com and its affiliates that your copyrighted material has been infringed.

- An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

- A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;

- A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;

- Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;

- A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;

- A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

Amazon.com's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site can be reached as follows:

Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226
Fax: (206) 266-7010
E-mail: [email protected]

We now have a notice form available on Amazon.com to submit notices of copyright or trademark infringement for content provided by third party sellers on the Amazon.com site. You can find it by following this link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports/infringement

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about this matter.

___

@EllisaBarr, I am not sure why, but I notice with some Kindle ebooks, the TOC is located at the back, not the front. It's bizarre, and I am not sure why (someone else here will likely know). But if you go to the print version on Amazon, it shows you the TOC in full, so you can see which Flaws we cover.

One thing to note--this book is actually not just for building antagonists, but all characters, and especially the Hero. Flaws created from negative experiences and emotional wounds hold your hero back from greatness, and will stand in the way of him achieving his goals. This means they are the very thing he must overcome in order achieve personal growth (Character Arc) and succeed. Picking the right ones for each character is all about understanding who they are at their core, and what influenced and steered them to where they are at the start of the story. So hopefully you'll find it helps add depth to all your characters. 

Thanks again for the great discussion--I am learning a lot.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

That's their auto-response letter to any communication regarding copyright.  I got that when I tried to report a blatant copyright theft that I spotted.  Since I wasn't the copyright holder, they didn't want to know.  I had to e-mail the rights owner so that they could chase Amazon.  

Sounds like they want a proper take-down notice before they'll do anything.  Good luck!


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Thanks--We'll see how it goes.


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## [email protected] (Apr 8, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> ... Believe me, *this stuff is no joke. It isn't legal. It is just a matter of enforcement. In order for it to violate trade dress, it doesn't have to be an exact duplicate product. It only needs to have the appearance of confusion in the marketplace.* Would a reasonable, average customer who was familiar with the core brand think this product was part of the product line if seen side by side? The answer is yes. Anyone familiar with the core brand would glance at that and make the assumption that it was part of the series...


Thank you. Copyright is serious business. Covers are both brands and art. You can't just take someone else's because you like it. It's not legal. You can get your pants sued off you at any time for it.

Consider plagiarism. Even in that case you have to change a specific percentage or have a certain percentage that is your own thoughts. This is no different. You can't just change a slight variance in the cover art and say it's now your own creation.

This is a very clear example of copyright infringement - both with your cover art and your brand. Get your DMCA sent in ASAP. Log all of the attempts you made to contact the offender. Save the emails, write down the date and number of times you've attempted to contact. Also write down any other efforts you've made to find and inform them (like you did here).

Hopefully Amazon will clear the issue up for you. Lawyers are expensive. But this is your brand's image. If you're making enough that you feel you can afford to protect it, then you should.

Sorry you're dealing with this. Good luck!! And hang in there. /hug

ETA: It's also a good idea to keep a record of your sales both before and after the other book was published. If you show any discernible stunts in growth and sales you have a better case for recovering damages if you have to sue.


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## Paul Huxley (Feb 27, 2014)

What they've done is the equivalent of this:










I can't believe it's not copyright infringement, but it's not.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Personally, I would contact amazon, but if they tell you they can't do anything, I wouldn't spend another moment worrying about it--it's a sign of your success.

And you know what? I loved the concept of your books so much I just bought all three in paperback 
(A buy paperback anything I use as a quick reference guide)


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## Jason Eric Pryor (Jan 30, 2013)

I'm no expert, so I don't know. But, as far as the cover being protected, I'm kind of looking at it like I would as a photographer. When you take a photograph, the image is automatically copyrighted by the photographer. It's a piece of art created by the photographer. I've taken portraits for people before and later, had to provide them with a signed form so the printer would print the photos for them. Why? Because even though they were the people in the photos, they didn't own the rights to the photos. I, as the photographer, do. So, I signed a form giving them "print rights for non-commercial use." The printer did this because, if they hadn't, they would be vulnerable from a legal standpoint.

So, I don't think the question is if a book cover is copyrighted. It is. The question is who holds the copyright. If an artist created the cover from scratch, they own the copyright. This is why I worked a deal with my cover artist so that I would have full rights to my covers. I want to be able to do whatever I want with them. In order to do that, I had to secure full rights. If the cover uses a stock image, the photographer of the image owns the rights. Someone replied earlier that they almost bought an image to use on their cover but decided not to because they saw it on another book. They said they could have bought it and it would've been legal. This is true, because by buying the photo, the rights holder (the photographer) would make money on the sale. You would legally be buying the right to use the photo from the rights holder. The writer of the other book with the cover couldn't do anything about it UNLESS they purchased the full image rights form the photographer. If this were the case, the photo would no longer be available for sale by the photographer.

So, I'm guessing if someone uses your cover, or even elements of your cover, for their own book, there is a rights infringement. It's just not infringing on you. It's infringing on the person that created the cover. You legally have the cover because you paid the artist/photographer for the rights to use it. But unless you paid for "full rights", there isn't much you can do because, technically, you don't own the cover. You simply bought the rights to use the cover. If the cover creator wanted to, they could re-sell that cover to as many people that are willing to buy it. It wouldn't make sense, but I'm thinking it would be legal. But if a person steals the cover of uses elements from it, they would be infringing because they didn't pay for any rights to use the image.

Again, I'm not expert, but this is how I see it. Hope it makes sense.


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## DarkScribe (Aug 30, 2012)

This is not a copyright or a trademark infringement, it is a "Look & Feel" reproduction. When companies the size of Apple, Samsung & Microsoft can spend years and millions in lawsuits based on Look & Feel infractions but still not be sure of winning, I doubt whether any form of action would aid you.  It is cheeky, and devious but I not illegal.  Maybe add a disclaimer to your Amazon sales/author pages - you might manage to embarrass them. (If a few people purchased their product then asked Amazon for a refund on the basis of deceptive promotion it might make Amazon sit up and take a look.)


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

I'd contact Amazon. If they refuse to do anything, then I'd probably drop the issue.

This is borderline infringement. You CAN spend the money to hire a lawyer and take this to court, but I'm not sure you'd win. And I'm not sure it'd be worth the money/hassle. That's a decision that you have to make for yourself.


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## Scarlett_R (Sep 30, 2011)

Hey Ange,

Sounds like this has made progress! I hope you can deal with Amazon, and do also consider the cease and desist letter to the authors.

But, at the end of the day, the great and valuable information in this thread is provided as guidance, or advice. I really urge you to talk to a lawyer who deals in copyright to get a clear understanding of your rights, and where you can proceed from here. That way rather than guessing you will know how to tackle this problem head on with the law behind you.

Good luck, I've got my fingers crossed for you!


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Thank you again everyone. It really is a tough area..I really appreciate the photograph analogy. I know pictures online often contain copyrights such as allowing for non-commercial or commercial works, but many that do allow for commercial works request attribution and deny users the right to alter the photograph. So the question is, did he alter my cover illegally, or recreate it? The blue color is slightly different as one person here mentioned, and the word scramble (which I bought rights for) is not used but the idea was. That said, it is clearly trying to mimic our book, and using "thesaurus" in the title supports their intent. Is it illegal? I don't know. But I do know that I know of authors who have been served with C&D letters because their book title was the same as a band name, and that this local company here had to change their mascot from green to blue in order to avoid a lawsuit by Marvel: http://www.petetheplumber.com/

As to the "I can't believe it's not butter" pic, I guess my question would be: does the creative use of a branded image help or hurt the original product or company? I would say in the case of the butter, the fact that any alterations reinforce their catch phrase and make people remember the product better, it helps. Does this guy's alteration of my cover designed by Scarlett (thanks for chiming in! so glad to see you here!) help my brand or hurt it? I would say hurt it, because the cover itself is a somewhat amateurish copy, and the content is both unhelpful to potential readers looking for a teaching resource (there is no advice, no teaching content) and it misrepresents what it is, seeing as this book is not a thesaurus (either a regular one or a creative one such as we have built with our series), deceiving readers.

(@Sever, thanks for giving them a test drive! I hope they are exactly what you need to make writing a bit easier--let me know what you think!)

Angela


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Paul Huxley said:


> I can't believe it's not copyright infringement, but it's not.


Actually it is. The courts have been finding more and more "look and feel" infringement cases. They are harder to prove, but there have been a bunch of them.

I can't think of any of the names involved in one that definitely went to trial, but one that got settled makes for a good example of the legal arguments, even if it isn't currently in case law.

The Obama "Hope" poster was a painting taken from a press photographer's photo. It isn't an exact replica, and there was no contention that the guy had taken the photo itself and run a filter on it. The contention was that he used the _composition_ of the photo, not the photo itself. His defense was that he had used another photo by the same photographer that was composed differently (it had several people in the photo) and he had created his own composition from that - therefore not violating the creative expression of that other photo. He claimed it was just coincidence that it was exactly like the first photo. However, the other photo did not appear to be the model for the painting, so he ended up settling.

While there are many cases of plagiarism (stealing the idea) which aren't copyright violations, I'd say that, in this case, if you have actually registered the copyright on this item so that you can get punitive damages, you should contact an attorney.

Of course, the logistics and costs of tracking down an anonymous, fly-by-night internet scam artist may make it not worth it. However, a copyright attorney might help you deal with Amazon.

Camille


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

On the look and feel thing, isn't this just a riff on the magnetic poetry boxes? I swear there was one with a clear plastic box where you could see the little magnets and a stick on paper label on it.


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

It's my feeling that we do have a case--people see cease and desists turning into lawsuits over the same or similar brand and business names, even when the two things are vastly different (such as a book title and a little-known rock band name), we see it happen with images, etc. It's more about what Camille touched on--how much time and energy do we want to put into it, I think. I've sent in the information to amazon, and someone kindly sent me a PM with perhaps another lead on tracking down the author, so we'll see where this goes.


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Just a quick UPDATE--I filed a take down request as per the information above and Amazon responded today: 

"Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from all Amazon sites:

INTERNET MARKETING THESAURUS: Words, Terms & Phrases Every Internet Marketer Should Know ASIN: B00JRG30ZA

It typically takes 2-3 days for a listing to disappear once it has been removed from our catalog." 

So good news at last. HUZZAH! 

Thank you all so much for the advice and support.  

Angela


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## Cheryl M. (Jan 11, 2011)

Yay!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

It's already taken down. I didn't see the offending cover, but based on what you said, it sounded like it might have been a "derivative work," which cannot be made without permission of the copyright holder of the original. Good for Amazon for being so responsive.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ14.pdf


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## Bluebonnet (Dec 15, 2013)

Angela Ackerman said:


> ___
> 
> @EllisaBarr, I am not sure why, but I notice with some Kindle ebooks, the TOC is located at the back, not the front. It's bizarre, and I am not sure why (someone else here will likely know). But if you go to the print version on Amazon, it shows you the TOC in full, so you can see which Flaws we cover.


I think some authors put the TOC in the back of the book because they want more room at the front of the book for the Look Inside material. They want more of the chapters to show in the LI, so they move the standard front material to the back of the book.

I'm glad to hear Amazon took the other book down. When I looked at your book and the copycat book side by side, at first glance the covers looked exactly alike, so I can see how readers might have bought the copycat book.


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## [email protected] (Apr 8, 2012)

Angela Ackerman said:


> Just a quick UPDATE--I filed a take down request as per the information above and Amazon responded today:
> 
> "Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from all Amazon sites:
> 
> ...


Good news! Congrats, Angela!


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## Melody Simmons (Jul 8, 2012)

Angela Ackerman said:



> Just a quick UPDATE--I filed a take down request as per the information above and Amazon responded today:
> 
> "Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from all Amazon sites:
> 
> ...


Great! Yes, Amazon was really fast to help me too when an author had stolen a cover from me. You should however do a proper search on the internet and make sure the book is not being sold anywhere else. The day the stolen cover was removed from Amazon in my case, the author went and published it on Barnes and Noble! They were also helpful but their procedures took much longer and replies were slow. Still they removed the entire book in the end. Then keep checking that they don't publish anywhere else. Sad but true that a few silly people like that exist. I have never had any such problems with the hundreds of other authors that I have dealt with...


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## Ian Marks (Jan 22, 2012)

I guess this reply is moot, as it appears that the offending book  has been "disinvited" from the Amazon marketplace, but WOW -- it's amazing the lengths some people will go to to deceive the public. In response to one of the other comments (I haven't read them all), yes, a book cover design can indeed be copyrighted. There is also a the concept of "appropriation of trade dress," which seems to be the case here. If a company like Campbell's establishes a distinctive red and white packaging motif for its soups and then someone goes and copies the design so precisely as to cause confusion among consumers, that's appropriation of trade dress, and it's a big no-no. At least, that's my understanding.

Anyway, Let's hope this doesn't happen again!


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Thanks all--Amazon was quite fast, and I am happy to see this resolved. We'll see if anything further happens or if the author tries to fight the take down. @Bluebonnet, thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering why they did this, and it definitely makes sense that they want to make the most of the preview content.


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## Scarlett_R (Sep 30, 2011)

Hazzah! *High fives Angela* Awesome work woman 

And yes, TOC's go to the back of the book so that there's more readable meat at the beginning for anyone who wants to have a look


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

This, btw, is something for honest authors to think about when they find a great deal on a cover.

In this case, because the author also emulated the title, I suspect the author was dishonest.  However it is entirely possible for an honest author to buy a cover from a dishonest artist.

Camille


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## kcochran (Apr 30, 2012)

Angela...such good news!

And...what an interesting topic this has been. I do think the person with that book was trying to capitalize on your brand. Had the cover been similar, but they had the title "Teaching your child to spell" perhaps that would have been a different story.

I agree that it is better to makes covers with composites or original images where you own the copyright rather than a single image from a stock site. The cover on my book is made up of 7 images.



Bluebonnet said:


> I think some authors put the TOC in the back of the book because they want more room at the front of the book for the Look Inside material. They want more of the chapters to show in the LI, so they move the standard front material to the back of the book.


Yes, this is exactly why authors do this. However, if an author has meaningful chapter headings, it really is best to leave that TOC in the front. In my case, I just had chapter 1, chapter 2, etc and I didn't want a potential customer/reader to click on "look inside" and see nothing but that.


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## My_Txxxx_a$$_Left_Too (Feb 13, 2014)

Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Thanks Scarlett!  

@daringnovelist, it is a good thing to think about when buying a pre made cover, and perhaps something that should come up in discussion with the artist--will they resell the image to someone else, or not? And is the author okay with it? I know I have seen covers that are the same on different books, and often it isn't a big deal unless the two books are the same genre. But still, all that work...I think most authors want a cover that is their own. Definitely something to find out before buying. In our case, it was the "thesaurus" part that bugged me most, for exactly why @Kcochran mentioned--an attempt to capitalize on our brand. I am so glad Amazon acted quickly and took it down. 

@AnnChristy, thank you so much for the compliment! I am so glad you find the books helpful. Again, thank you all for your help and support in this. In a week I am attending a copyright/piracy talk and am hoping to gain even greater insight into what is and isn't allowed when it comes to books and copying content or a look.   

have a great rest-of-the-week! 

Angela


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

In regards to dealing with a possible plagiarizing artist:

Of course if the artist is plagiarizing the design, they most likely won't admit it. Some won't realize where the boundaries are at all, others will be unethical.

One thing you can do is do an "image search" on Google. Drag and drop the image on Google's Images search page, and it will find the images that seem to match it most closely. It won't catch everything, and it will come up with a number of images which are legally similar (especially with a clicheed or very simple design), but when I did it with his cover, YOUR cover came up. So it does help some.

I should note here, though, that amazing similarities can happen by sheer coincidence. Especially when working with elements that are easy to use (like edge templates or brushes) or in fashion (like certain colors or effects or fonts). Plus there is always homage -- when an artist works in the _style_ of someone famous. (_The Man Who Did Too Much_ in my sig below, is an homage to Saul Bass, for instance.)

It's just good to be aware of what else is out there that might be similar, anyway.

Camille

Camille


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

The image search is a great idea--I have done that to try and find the copyright holder of an image, but never to search out similar book covers! Thanks @daringnovelist!

Also, don't know if you saw the link in an earlier post, but here's an interesting case of cover design "copying" that got Harper Collins in trouble: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/08/2011/not-a-good-week-for-harper-collins-cover-art-rip-off/


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

Angela Ackerman said:


> The image search is a great idea--I have done that to try and find the copyright holder of an image, but never to search out similar book covers! Thanks @daringnovelist!
> 
> Also, don't know if you saw the link in an earlier post, but here's an interesting case of cover design "copying" that got Harper Collins in trouble: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/08/2011/not-a-good-week-for-harper-collins-cover-art-rip-off/


Yeah, I wrote about that one on my blog too. That's an interesting case because it likely didn't rise to the level of copyright violation. The images were different enough that it really could have been a coincidence.... but the previous contact made it clear that it was a case of plagiarism (which is not the same as copyright violation). You have someone making an offer on an existing cover, which was turned down, and then a blatant recreation of all the main cover elements.

While it might not have risen to copyright violation (and I can't say that for sure) the major publishers do take plagiarism seriously, and the whole thing was a terrible embarrassment to Harper Collins.

Camille


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

Make sure you recheck in a month or so to see if it's back up.

Amazon may have their own internal process to deal with these issues, but this is how they have to treat it according to the law: 1. You send takedown notice.
2. They take it down
3. Offender says no, they have a right to it
4. Amazon puts it back up
5. It's now in your hands to deal with it in court.

This is what the law says sites like Amazon have to do to be following the law, and it's what most sites actually do. Amazon may have their own internal policy though that goes above and beyond their legal requirement. Just watch and make sure it stays down.


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

To be clear: Amazon doesn't _have_ to put it back up according to the law (their TOS covers their right to take anything down and leave it down if they want): however, you're right that they don't have to leave it down.

The question is how sociopathic the person is. Some don't bother to fight it -- they just move on to the next scam. Others have hostility issues and make everybody's life hell.

Camille


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## Angela Ackerman (Jul 6, 2011)

Briteka, thanks for bringing this up...I was sort of wondering if this could happen myself. I'll definitely continue to keep my eye out for it, or something similar. Fingers crossed @daringnovelist is right and he just moved on.


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## Briteka (Mar 5, 2012)

Angela Ackerman said:


> Briteka, thanks for bringing this up...I was sort of wondering if this could happen myself. I'll definitely continue to keep my eye out for it, or something similar. Fingers crossed @daringnovelist is right and he just moved on.


Yep, Daringnovelist is right. Amazon may insert themselves into the process and decide you're completely right and will refuse to republish the book. The truth is, I have no idea. The only large company I have any information about is Google, and I know they refuse to judge anything. They just simply do what they're required to do and then leave the rest up to the people involved in the dispute.


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