Re: Copyright, plagiarism, and control of one's work

[BrennerNY@xxxxxxxx]

Norman -- I think your points are a powerful argument in favor of my view
that an author absolutely should control access to his or her work.
  You're right that this isn't just a question of money. It's about the
integrity of your work.
  I'm a business reporter and a personal finance columnist. Nothing I've
written would alleviate physical illness, but a lot of it is very helpful to
people in painful financial situations. My job isn't getting information out
first; it's translating financial and legal jargon, and explaining what
underlies marketing hype.
  I'm often asked for permission to reprint my articles. I've never refused
-- or charged -- any non-profit group that makes this request.
  But I have made it a condition that the work be reprinted in its
entirety, because (as I spend a lot of time explaining to copy editors) cuts
often create errors of fact. The last thing I want is a distorted version of
my work being disseminated, no matter how altruistic the intention of the
people doing it.
   I also get requests for reprints from financial services companies. I
seldom okay them, since I make it a condition that my articles not be used in
conjunction with the sale of goods or services.
  That kind of control is essential to me.
  Perhaps I should add that I have had the experience of being plagiarized,
and it's unforgettably nasty. A person with a recognizeable public profile
coolly stole half a chapter of one of my books for a print newsletter -- and
used the entire chapter as an audiotape newsletter.
  He sold my work as his own -- it was that simple. I hired a lawyer and
got an out-of-court settlement which bound me not to identify the perp, which
is the only reason I'm not doing it.
  I believe that copyright is an all-or-nothing proposition. Relinquishing
it entirely is dangerous -- even in "special" circumstances. To paraphrase
Humphrey Bogart, It happens we're in the writing business -- and when a
writer's work is stolen, it's bad for writers everywhere.
Lynn Brenner