Got this email reported and forwarded to me a few years ago... If this happened to you, what would you do?
And although this issue is still not completely resolved, I would like to post it with the sender's name partially hidden. This email was posted in a parenting group where one of the members posted my ad; within that thread, though, another member replied back:
m*l*an*e*syo**g@******** Date: Sun, 13 May 2007 07:26:53 -0700 From:m*l*an*e*syo**g@******** Subject: Re: reading book
To: ****************************
*** real st. e. aldana
las pinas city
0915441**29
My first reaction was, "Oh my, this is so ridiculous!" Laughed out loud. Yet, I felt my pulse race and I admit I was a bit disturbed. We've worked so hard on this book, including the research and the promotion. We also started small and improvised for our needs when need be.. and now here, someone was selling my e-book without approval!
I know I'm not anybody well-known, in fact I'm just a very very ordinary citizen from the province. But still that is my work, I own the copyright and even the exclusive right to sell it. Sad, that this person doesn't realize the things I have gone through before I sold the material as an ebook. Now here she was selling it at low low price.
So here's what I did then: I wrote her, quoting the forwarded email message. I sent my copyright certificate as attachment. In my letter, I told her that she is not authorized to sell the cd or the material unless she sends me a request and that upon my approval she can do so. I also added to please let whomever she got the ebook from to stop selling without my permission (I know from my directory she is not one of the subscribers)
I admit, it was also my fault for not safe-guarding the ebook from piracy back then and not regulating it's distribution. Though I'm glad that so far since 2001 I've been consistent in listing my customers names and other details. This last bit is a plus for the subscribers of the ebook because when they lose their e-copy they can just call or email me for a replacement at no cost.
Despite what happened, it did not stop me from selling. In fact I've researched how I could protect the ebook from copyright infringement and did exactly that. As subscribers will notice, the ebook is now password-protected with the copy number assigned to each. So I suppose that will do for now. Will keep everyone posted!
Read: How To Protect Your Work From Copyright Violation