Make Your Voice be Heard

As you might recall from my first Killer Fiction post 2 weeks ago, my day job is as an intellectual property attorney. And once upon a time, I worked on the Hill as a legislative counsel to a Congressman, specializing in IP issues, including combatting piracy.

It is estimated that IP theft costs the US economy more than $100 billion every year, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs. As a writer who is also an intellectual property attorney, it's not surprising that this is an important issue of mine.

During the last Congress, a bill (formerly known as Senate Bill (SB) 3804, the Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act), was passed by unanimous consent through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has indicated he will introduce similar legislation again this session.

"Bipartisan legislation aimed at stopping this criminal activity received unanimous support in the Judiciary Committee last fall. This hearing is another step in our efforts to determine how best to bolster tools to help law enforcement combat this illegal activity," said Leahy. "This is neither a Republican nor a Democratic priority. It is another essential part of our efforts to strengthen our nation's economy."

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 on "Targeting Websites Dedicated to Stealing American Intellectual Property."

Among the witnesses was one of my favorite authors, best-selling legal thriller writer and attorney, Scott Turow, who also just happens to be the President of the Authors Guild, the nation's largest membership organization of professional writers.

You can watch a webcast of the hearing here: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4982

You can make your voice heard. Please participate in the legislative process by letting your Members of Congress know that you support their efforts to combat piracy.

Nora Roberts did her part. Can you read her letter of support for the former SB 3804 here:
http://www.rwa.org/cs/Nora_Roberts_Letter_Bill3804

(Can I take a moment here to go all fangirl? She moderated a workshop I taught a couple of years ago on basic copyright law at the RWA National Conference in DC. Nora Roberts moderated ME. What's wrong with this picture?)

But fangirl or not, Nora is right. People who pirate your book are stealing, plain and simple. As she told the Senate Judicary Committee:
"We look to you to make the laws that protect us, that protect our work, that protect and respect creative property. We look to you to stand up for us and against piracy and its growing sense of entitlement. Without writers there will be no stories. Without stories, the world will be a smaller and much less vibrant place. Please don't let that happen."

Please show your support for this important legislation by writing your local newspaper and contacting your Senators.

A Benefit of Being a Mystery Writer

I had a blog all set to automatically post in a minute from now, but now I'm furiously typing up something new.

See, there's this manuscript I was writing before my daughter was born. I didn't get too terribly far into it before I went into labor 6 weeks early, but I was enjoying it. Of course, I then went on an extended maternity leave from writing, and by the time I returned, I'd changed gears and decided to work on something entirely new.

That didn't mean I would never return to it. Maybe someday I would. Some time down the road. Eventually.

But now I can't.

See, while I was browsing the "coming soon" titles on some book blogs, I came across a blurb that sounded suspiciously similar to my story. Like THE EXACT SAME plot-point-by-plot-point, and was even a remake of the EXACT SAME literary classic in the EXACT SAME way, using the EXACT SAME twists and resolution.

Now before you say "oh, but ideas can't be protected by copyright"...yes, I am fully aware. There is some debate as to whether plot can be protected and the general consensus is that where expression becomes so intertwined with plot that it becomes the expression itself, then yes, plot can be protected.

Without naming names or titles, I'd say that this is that type of plot. It was very unique. It's not one of those "oh, but everything idea under the sun has already been written" types of things. It wasn't a trope.

But my bad...all I had was the opening 20 pages or so, and a detailed synopsis. Of course, I'd spent countless hours brainstorming it in a semi-protected Think Tank thread in a popular writer's forum. But the writing world is a small community -- nobody would steal it, right?

Wrong.

I happen to know for a fact that this author had visited the writer's forum during the exact same week in question that I was stupidly brainstorming.

Despite what my husband thinks, I honestly don't think the author consciously intended to steal the idea. Rather, I think she might have read it, thought it was cute, and then forgot all about it until it came time to submit a new YA book proposal. At that time, she probably remembered it, but had no idea where it came from, so assumed it was her idea in the first place. And since there are no books out there with this idea (yet!), she decided it must have been her idea.

I honestly don't think it was deliberate. But that doesn't make me feel any better about it.

Anyway, since in my case it was an idea rather than complete expression, there's really nothing I can do about it. Oh, sure, I could push the issue if I wanted, but it would be me against her big publishing house and it's just not worth it.

I truly believe in karma and know that what goes around comes around.

Of course, now that I write mysteries, I can always name a character after her and let her die a really horrible death.

This could be fun...