For those who don't know, piracy and plagiarism happen a lot and not just in the literary world. In business and academics, it happens and this is why there are intellectual property laws to help manage instances of these.

Plagiarism is the theft and use of someone else's ideas as your own, or using another's production without crediting the source. It is literary theft and it happens more often than nought, even here on Wattpad.

Piracy on the other hand, is the unauthorized use of someone else's production, invention or conception. This is more correctly known as copyright infringement.

All works posted on Wattpad are protected with a Copyright law which prevents other users from copying your work, but still it happens.

Wattpad has tried to make it difficult for other authors to copy your work but that doesn't mean it's impossible. As they say, "Where there's a will there's a way."

So someone's copied your work? What to do?

The first thing you need to do is file a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act form) takedown request via Wattpad, and they will deal with removing the work expeditiously.

If your work is posted on a site outside of Wattpad, report it to them and follow the given steps to file for a DMCA.

Here's a basic list of dos and don'ts.

Do

File for a DMCA personally. For a DMCA to work the original creator/their legal representative must file for the DMCA.

Make sure to provide proof in the form of a link, etc.

Make sure you are absolutely sure that the said person has copied your work.

Don't

Hesitate. Quick action is key.

If however you don't want to take the DMCA route you could always send a PM to the person who you think has copied your work and kindly ask them to take it down. If this fails then revert to the former

Something to keep in mind is that copyright only protects the physical representation of an idea, not the idea itself. Stories with similar plots, titles and story themes are not considered a copyright infringement which is why there are so many stories and movies which are similar to each other.

For more info check the link below:

https://support.wattpad.com/hc/en-us/articles/204471770-Reporting-Copyright-Infringement

Content Created by Liv (Livkuile)