Outsourced Content May Be Plagiarized

[glenv]

Over the last year I have paid independent freelance writers to create me over 150 short articles for my sites. These writers were contracted through elance.com

I have been very happy until only last week when someone emailed me that the copy on my sites was very similar to other articles on similar themed sites.

This is what I was sent:

"While searching for specific information on "keyword removed" I came across your website. But after reading some of the articles on your website, I realized that it was very familiar to me. When I did a simple Google search, I was really surprised to find that the content available in almost all the articles is plagiarized. This is really a shock for me as you are acting as a marketing channel for all your partners using plagiarized content directly copied and pasted (with slight changes) from other renowned websites."

Needless to say this sort of took me back since I have no idea if this person is a vigilante of sorts and is just stirring up trouble or if he/she is sincere. I emailed them back and asked what their interest was and they claimed they were searching for the product I was promoting and just happened to discover similar ad copy/content.

I doubt that is true and believe this person is more than likely a competitor trying to un-nerve me. In any event though, I am also pretty disturbed if his accusations are true. I am wondering if anyone else works through elance and what you feel my recourse is? Articles are very expensive to buy and it does perturb me if they are indeed plagiarized.

Thank you

[John_Shaw]

Anyone who works with freelance (or even staff) writers worries about plagiarism. Just ask any editor or lawyer in the publishing business (including certain major national newspapers).

You should have the writer sign an agreement that they have the rights to the work they are selling. They may have already sold "first electronic rights", but they should make that fact clear if they have and if you are willing to accept something already online or in print.

Also, before payment and before use of the material Google key phrases (pick some randomly from the inside) to see if you can find it.

[rogerd]

Virtual subcontractors can be even trickier than ones you higher in person - if the writer is in a remote nation, for example, US contract law may be of little use. I'd recommend starting any new writer with small assignments to evaluate not only quality but originality. As John_Shaw suggests, a few quick checks via Google should increase your confidence that the content hasn't been ripped off, either verbatim or with minor changes. I'm sure there are rip-off artists who use elance as well as many fine, ethical individuals and firms. The rating system should show problems over time, so I'd avoid hiring anyone without much history unless you are willing to take a chance.

One thing that isn't 100% clear, though is whether you were able to identify the similar documents and confirm that they predated your own content. A well-intentioned surfer would certainly provide URLs when calling a problem to your attention; if the writer failed to document the supposed copying, your guess that it's a competitor rattling your cage is probably correct.

[ken_b]

You might want to get the url of the alledged plagerized articles so you can deterime if there is in fact any similarity.

And to see if others may have plagerized or copied and modified the articles after finding them on your site your site.

But I'm not a lawyer, so this is just a random thought, not legal advice.

[mgream]

Your contractor agreement shoule have a clause in it for them to warrant the material and for you to obtain redress otherwise.

You need to speak to a professional: this is a complex circumstance that can only be unravelled by looking at all the facts and issues. The original copyright owner will likely pursue you, but you then need to claim against your contractor. You may be able to join the original copyright owner and both pursue the contractor.

Prepare your material and get read for the 6minute clock.

[Fairla]

I used to be an editor on a fairly well-known site (in its field), but we had limited resources so I was stuck using a group of lousy freelancers someone else had picked. Most of them had no clue how to research, so I had to check every fact and rewrite most of the articles, and in the course of this fact-checking I found - thanks to Google - that lots of these supposedly professional writers just cut and pasted things from dubious Internet sites - and one of them was undeniably in the realm of plagiarism. (Nonetheless, I had trouble convincing my supervisor to stop using her articles.)

I don't know anything about elance, but if I were you I'd cut and paste lots of lines from every new article into Google and see what you come up with. You may be surprised.