When someone steals your creation and claims it is their own, it can be very upsetting. All your hard work is now in someone else’s hands.
I found some swipes of my articles on other people’s sites with no attribution. It makes me sad. A little angry and kind of disgusted as an initial reaction. … then after I’ve let off some steam. I follow the best course of action:
Let it go.
Probably not too many people would agree with this.
You should for a few very good reasons.
1. If it’s worth stealing that means, you have produced something of value. Until this point, you didn’t know if it was truly valuable. But if someone wants it enough to steal it, you can take confidence in the fact that you are producing good work.
2. Chances are, the best stuff you have to produce, you haven’t produced it yet. Thieves are so busy stealing, they can’t ever come up with good ideas on their own. This means while they are getting better at stealing, you are getting better at creating. The more you create, the more your work has its own signature on it. People will recognize truth from the work and the creator, especially when you have a lot of similar ideas.
3. If people want more of your work, they’ll have to come to you to get it. No one owns your idea as much as you do. You are going to take your creation in places no on ever thought possible. If someone steals your idea and takes off with it they will go in a different direction than you intended. Similar situation happened with Disney Pixar “A Bug’s Life” and Dreamworks “Antz” while they were in negotiations on Disney buying the company. The original idea holder, John Lassater came out on top and their movie far exceeded the Dreamworks version in sales. And in return put out hit after hit after hit.
4. The more anger, frustration, and bitterness you hold toward the thief will greatly impede your ability to create. Forgiveness is more for us than the person who wronged us.
There are some preventative measures you can take against stealing. Most are too costly and unimportant. They want to make you afraid that your idea will get stolen, so you’ll buy the “insurance” of copyright protection. Consider some of these ideas instead.
5. Let the thieves pay for your marketing. You probably weren’t going to do anything with that idea anyway. How long have you been sitting on that creation? If the thief can do something with your idea, let them have it and run with it. They will be eternally grateful. They are basically paying for your all the marketing of your idea and making it popular. You can build on that momentum when you put out your next product — in a slightly different and better way.
6. Work faster than the thieves. Take some fast action. Market it like wildfire, then succeed and make more. Or fail and go on to something else. In this case, be quicker than the thieves. If you are just starting out, the best thing you can do is take action and get buyers. If people don’t buy then there’s nothing to steal.
7. Market your idea before you build the product. If all you have is an idea, it’s basically worthless. If you can’t manufacture the product, there’s no product–nothing to steal.
8. Build your eyewitnesses testimonies. Market to the people on your list. Look at the kickstarter campaigns. Hundreds of people on your list that watch you create the product. They see how you’ve created the idea from scratch, pulled it all together and made it a reality. You’ve changed their life with your product. They know you are the creative spark. They’ll buy more from you.
This is some ideas on how to handle it when someone steals your creation.