Be very careful if you post any of your poems on here. I write a lot of romantic poetry, and one, which I wrote over 50 years ago, was promptly stolen when I put it on an AOL forum in 2001. It is called 'If I Could Catch A Rainbow' and was stolen by a woman in America called Sandra Louis Pringle. She claimed it as her own work and published it on YouTube with background music. It has been copied by many more people since, BUT... When she copied my original, she copied it wrong and missed a word out of the second verse, and everyone who has copied it since then, has made exactly the same mistake, and without that word, the second verse is incomplete and doesn't make sense. I suppose her version is still running on YouTube, but the only way you can see the original now, is by visiting my Facebook page and following the link to my web pages.

Well, I would be flattered if someone stole my poetry. After all, once you write and put your poems online, they can not be published.
I want my poetry out there any way it gets there....
Maybe someone will have an emotional connection or a breadcrumb of wisdom added to them.
All good

So is this an ad to go look at your stuff?

Or just a rant to say you couldn't get something published, and therefore copyrighted, and foolishly put it up on the web where anybody could copy it and claim it as their own without penalty.

No, It's not an ad. And you CAN self publish on the internet, but I chose not to. At the turn of the century, the internet was all new to me, and the poem was put in an AOL 'chat room' with others from other AOL members. And they CANNOT claim someone else's written work as their own without penalty because that would be a breach of interlectual rights even without copyright. Plagiarism is a federal offence in the USA and I have asked the FBI to deal with the matter.

Frere, Jessica <Jessica.Frere@ic.fbi.gov>
Tue 07/05/2013 14:33

Good morning, Allan,

Thank you for your patience. I have forwarded your request to our Intellectual Property unit. They will review your statements and determine the best course of action.

I will be in touch if I hear further updates.

Thank you and have a great day.


Jessica Frere

Investigative Publicity and Public Affairs Unit

Office of Public Affairs

202-324-0201

So this letter from the "FBI" is what? Seven years old?

How's that penalizing the person who stole your work going?

They aren't as good as they like to make people believe. I had similar replies every time I've asked for an update. I've had a look around the internet, and some similar cases have taken over 10 years just to get the case into court. I'll be 74 in December, so I won't be holding my breath.

So then again, what is the purpose of your original post????

Due to the site has rules on Plagiarism and we do deal with those reports as needed..

If you feel that someone here has posted a poem, that is not theirs we ask that you report it with the proof, and all poems that do not belong to the Member posting it will be removed unless they give Credit to the Author..

But as most should know if you do post your poems on the Internet, and have not had them copyrighted, then they may be up for grabs for someone to steal.. Always be safe when posting..

With that said this thread will be locked, please see the Rules Specific for this Forum.

https://mingle2.com/topic/249147

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