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The Truth About Resell Rights

by dbsmitty
14 replies
I think I'm gonna stir up the pot a bit with this one...

I recently purchased an ebook that starts by informing the readers that they may not copy, share, or sell the information in the book. And I've seen this same declaration and ones like it in other works.

The information. It didn't say you can't copy the book, you can't plagiarize my work, etc. It said you cannot share, copy or sell the information. Keep your finger on that page.

I once heard something to the effect that if you get your information from one source it's plagiarism. If you get it from several sources it's research. Kind of tongue-in-cheek, but there's an important point here: What makes it plagiarism?

If I were a history buff - or, more specifically, if I had a keen interest in the life of Abraham Lincoln I may have read all kinds of books about him, and I may be kind of an expert. Eventually I may choose to write my own book about his life.

But if I write a book about him, where did I get my information? I got it from the books that I've read. So am I plagiarizing the material of the original authors by writing my own book? Well, I am if I copy them completely. If I steal their exact words and the way in which they presented the information then yes, it would be plagiarism. But if I present it in my own way and words, then no. It's not.

You cannot copyright information. You can copyright your work that consists of the precise words you chose and manner in which you presented that information - but that's it. If someone else wants to take that same information, re-word it and present it in their own style you can get just upset about it as you want. Have yourself a nice warm pity-party - and then get over it. Because they haven't done anything illegal.

Just sayin.
#resell #rights #truth
  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    If someone else wants to take that same information, re-word it and present it in their own style you can get just upset about it as you want.
    It would no longer be the copyrighted work. BTW - everybody knows this.
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    • Profile picture of the author dbsmitty
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      It would no longer be the copyrighted work. BTW - everybody knows this.
      You would think.
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  • Profile picture of the author lived
    Banned
    You may find the law is not the only recourse for retribution over plagiarism - whichever way you choose to dress it up. Take that in what ever way you want.

    Just saying.
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    • Profile picture of the author dbsmitty
      Originally Posted by lived View Post

      You may find the law is not the only recourse for retribution over plagiarism - whichever way you choose to dress it up. Take that in what ever way you want.

      Just saying.
      I'm not dressing it up at all - it has a legal definition. As far as someone working outside of the law to take retribution because someone has violated someone's personal sense of entitlement that cannot be settled within the law... I'm sure that's true. There's a number of things people could do. But life is too short to live in fear of those things.

      For the record, I have not created product based on someone else's product. All I'm saying is that someone trying to say that they own information is, in my opinion, just wrong. If the info is factual and accurate then it cannot belong to any one person. Truth belongs to everyone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Madam X
    Well, I'd say that about half of the products right here on the WF are "Copies" of another's work. They may have put a new E-book Cover on it, they may have re-arranged the copy somewhat - but, it's the same exact ideas presented - only slightly different.

    In fact, I recently purchased a product from Anthony Devine that was the exact same product that I purchased one year ago. He wrote up a new Sales Page here on the WF -
    that made it sound quite different. I was not a happy camper about that. I had tried and tried to make his ideas work last year to no avail. I sure as heck didn't want to try it again. I told him and asked for my money back. He gave it to me.

    My two cents ...

    Madam X
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    By all means, if you are capable of 'extracting' ideas and (re)present them in your own way, I think that's fair trade.

    However, I have an idiot on page 1 of "G" using my articles on several FREE websites, and the only difference is he added one word to my title. Yet, the supposed 'duplicate content' penalty everyone talks about somehow escaped "G's" radar, cause there are 4-5 exact copies of this article all vying for position on page 1 for multiple keywords.

    While, I admit my article is pre-dated and still ranks (slightly) higher, I find it both bizarre and unwarranted that "G" refuses to "shut down" this guys sites, which BTW are all hosted on G's BlogSpot platform!

    No pity party intended here, but for Christ's sake at least these people could attempt to re-write the article (*or eBook) in their own words. That wouldn't piss me off at all. Stealing my work, and sales commissions...DOES!
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    • Profile picture of the author Madam X
      @Art72,

      Are you selling something from your article? Has the person at least put a link back to your site to show where the article was generated from? You could always have an Attorney send a cease and desist letter.

      Or, you could contact Blogspot and tell them that you want it removed. Not sure what they'd do about it. You could try. I'd like to know what happens.

      Madam X


      [QUOTE=art72;8944322 by all means, if you are capable of 'extracting' ideas and (re)present them in your own way, I think that's fair trade.

      However, I have an idiot on page 1 of "G" using my articles on several FREE websites, and the only difference is he added one word to my title. Yet, the supposed 'duplicate content' penalty everyone talks about somehow escaped "G's" radar, cause there are 4-5 exact copies of this article all vying for position on page 1 for multiple keywords.

      While, I admit my article is pre-dated and still ranks (slightly) higher, I find it both bizarre and unwarranted that "G" refuses to "shut down" this guys sites, which BTW are all hosted on G's BlogSpot platform!

      No pity party intended here, but for Christ's sake at least these people could attempt to re-write the article (*or eBook) in their own words. That wouldn't piss me off at all. Stealing my work, and sales commissions...DOES![/QUOTE]
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      • Profile picture of the author art72
        Originally Posted by Madam X View Post

        @Art72,

        Are you selling something from your article? Has the person at least put a link back to your site to show where the article was generated from? You could always have an Attorney send a cease and desist letter.

        Or, you could contact Blogspot and tell them that you want it removed. Not sure what they'd do about it. You could try. I'd like to know what happens.

        Madam X
        Yes, as a matter of fact it is a review article I wrote for an affiliate promotion I did some 3 years ago.

        No, he's not giving me a credit link, just flat stole my article/review.

        Honestly, I had long forgotten about that particular work, as it was when I first started writing reviews, and was testing IM to see if I could actually make some sales.

        Ironically, in the last 15 days, I mysteriously made 5 sales totaling a whooping $138.61, and decided to checks the SERP's to see where I was ranking for my targeted keywords. For most of my keywords I am second only to the product owners site, but this person has 2-4 different copies of my article whereby, he changes like one word to 'game the SERP's' - I thought these techniques stopped working with the PANDA update???

        Anyway, I did contact G, and filed a DMCA and they refused to remove his sites without explanation. Clearly, they could see the original work was pre-dated, and the stolen versions are all but identical!

        Probably, not worth hiring a lawyer over, although it does make me wonder; How many sales commissions have I lost to someone who's basically copying & pasting my work on several free websites (BlogSpot) with his affiliate link?

        Too bad he was smart enough to change the links...then I wouldn't care, lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author dbsmitty
      Originally Posted by art72 View Post

      By all means, if you are capable of 'extracting' ideas and (re)present them in your own way, I think that's fair trade.

      However, I have an idiot on page 1 of "G" using my articles on several FREE websites, and the only difference is he added one word to my title. Yet, the supposed 'duplicate content' penalty everyone talks about somehow escaped "G's" radar, cause there are 4-5 exact copies of this article all vying for position on page 1 for multiple keywords.

      While, I admit my article is pre-dated and still ranks (slightly) higher, I find it both bizarre and unwarranted that "G" refuses to "shut down" this guys sites, which BTW are all hosted on G's BlogSpot platform!

      No pity party intended here, but for Christ's sake at least these people could attempt to re-write the article (*or eBook) in their own words. That wouldn't piss me off at all. Stealing my work, and sales commissions...DOES!
      Yeah that would piss me off too.

      I have a friend who writes humor blogs and some girl was posting her material as though it were her own on her MySpace page. I stumbled onto it by accident and told my friend and she sicked her lawyer friends on the lady...

      And that wasn't even a case where the lady stealing the material was making any money off of the stolen material - she was just misrepresenting within her own social group to impress her friends, or whatever.

      I agree that people should receive their own reward for their own work. Whether it's in the form of money or esteem or... whatever.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    I typically find the ambiguous nature of resell rights terms to be so bad, that I stopped bothering.

    Keyword: ambiguous... You can interpret the meaning of the terms in so many ways that I don't even bother anymore with resale rights material.
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    • Profile picture of the author dbsmitty
      Originally Posted by Sarevok View Post

      I typically find the ambiguous nature of resell rights terms to be so bad, that I stopped bothering.

      Keyword: ambiguous... You can interpret the meaning of the terms in so many ways that I don't even bother anymore with resale rights material.
      Yeah it's gotten a little ridiculous. It used to be that PLR had certain privileges and limitations, MRR had others, etc.

      But now it seems like no matter what they claim to be, the specific license dictates the products do's and don'ts. You can do this, you can't do that. So whereas in the past you could assume that if it was PLR it was unrestricted, you can't assume that anymore.

      I think it should be like it was where there are specific kinds of rights and what kind of rights a product has in itself determines what you can and can't do. It's gotten way too confusing with everyone redefining the rights for the sake of their own product.
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      • Profile picture of the author art72
        Originally Posted by dbsmitty View Post

        Yeah it's gotten a little ridiculous. It used to be that PLR had certain privileges and limitations, MRR had others, etc.

        But now it seems like no matter what they claim to be, the specific license dictates the products do's and don'ts. You can do this, you can't do that. So whereas in the past you could assume that if it was PLR it was unrestricted, you can't assume that anymore.

        I think it should be like it was where there are specific kinds of rights and what kind of rights a product has in itself determines what you can and can't do. It's gotten way too confusing with everyone redefining the rights for the sake of their own product.
        I agree. I do believe there are some good MRR and PLR out there, and I have never really been one for rehashing and reselling someone else's stuff. The licenses have gotten more and more strict regarding PLR, which used to mean; you could do anything you wanted with it. Change the cover, title, authorship, content, images, links, etc... (*Now you gotta wonder if the images weren't stolen by the creator, and risk a law suit if you put your name on it, lol)

        Over the years, I have considered on several occassions writing an eBook with "Give-A-Way Rights" and a squeeze template to accompany it to help others build a list, and learn the ropes by including a file that explains (for newbies) how to set up a squeeze page, and deliver a freebie.

        Naturally, the primary reason would be to have 20-25 links inside to my affiliate products inside that "IF" the readers followed the training and took action... I'd make commissions on the links, and hopefully it would go viral.

        Still debating on whether I should try this technique?

        Problem is, If I allow people to "Give It Away" the eBook to build their list and teach them to build a subscriber list... I would want my content to remain in tact, and that's the hard part. These days, people just assume a "Give-A-Way" product implies...PLR, which implies; do whatever you want with it! - So I've been reluctant to create such an eBook.
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      • Profile picture of the author john01a
        Originally Posted by dbsmitty View Post

        ...But now it seems like no matter what they claim to be, the specific license dictates the products do's and don'ts. You can do this, you can't do that. So whereas in the past you could assume that if it was PLR it was unrestricted, you can't assume that anymore...
        I think that unrestricted PLR is actually problematic, for various reasons. When I look at the terms of PLR licenses from a lot of established PLR content providers, the terms make sense and there are normally good reasons behind the restrictions.

        Originally Posted by dbsmitty View Post

        ...I think it should be like it was where there are specific kinds of rights and what kind of rights a product has in itself determines what you can and can't do. It's gotten way too confusing with everyone redefining the rights for the sake of their own product.
        Just like how each royalty free graphics site or stock photography site has their own license terms and restrictions, I see no reason why each PLR content provider, or even individual content packs from a single povider, shouldn't have their own license terms.
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  • Profile picture of the author actionplanbiz
    thats how it is in everything you want to be good at, find someone that is good at it and copy them. everything we teach, know, & understand is a regurgitation of someone else.

    but unfortunately even the most accomplish marketers regurgitate crap with just enough information to avoid a refund. it has nothing to do with regurgitating and more to do with marketing.
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