As the success of my business, The Writing Guru®, and professional notoriety has surged in recent years, it has not come without content thieves and internet plagiarists stealing my intellectual property. In recent times, I’ve found numerous instances of my website content on The Writing Guru lifted (from my homepage to my terms of service), plagiarism of my high-traffic published articles, plagiarism of my trademarked company name (yep, a person just randomly decided to start a resume writing business in late 2020 and call herself The Writing Guru with a logo similar to mine), and cybersquatting by others with domains of my trademarked brand.
Content thieves and internet plagiarists are on the rise — it’s easy in the Wild Wild West to pretend to be someone you’re not, or lift content of a successful entrepreneur thinking that no one will catch you. Perhaps the average layperson may not realize it, but when you have someone like myself who is a trained researcher and litigator, understands SEO, and isn’t afraid to confront internet plagiarists and content thieves and initiate litigation, you may want to think twice before you steal my content and intellectual property.
I consistently pursue all avenues to put offenders and infringers on notice of their outright theft of my intellectual property. I am now taking this opportunity to openly discuss how frustrating and unnerving the situation truly is for a content creator like myself.
I am a lawyer by trade and and a writer by talent. My words are my intellect, my passion, my brainchild. Each and every person who has visited my website and lifted my content purposefully, you have lifted my copy, my brainpower, my thoughts, my creativity, and hours of hard work. It’s not yours for the taking, yet you continue to do so – nonchalantly. Most of the time when confronted, I receive responses such as “Oh, I’ve never heard of you.” Hmmm how did my website content just randomly appear on your website for your newly established business? Must be some type of magic sorcery. No…you’re just an internet plagiarist who got caught.
I consistently run my content through Copyscape, which makes it easy to discover perpetrators and offenders alike. I have no problem forking over hundreds and thousands of dollars to my legal counsel, Heitner Legal, to send cease and desist letters and create files of documentation identifying your wrongdoing. I am also fearless when it comes to initiating litigation against wrongdoers. I spent 12 years as a litigator, and I am always prepared to go to battle when my rights and my intellectual property are infringed and violated.
Please note, if you continue to steal my content and intellectual property, I will put you on notice and take all appropriate avenues to protect my brand. I am the hardest worker in the room, and I will outwork anyone all day for the client roster, brand, and notoriety I’ve built over the last decade.
It takes years to build a brand — don’t steal someone else’s success and hard work. In the end, content thieves and internet plagiarists must be stopped.
Sincerely,
Wendi Weiner, Esq.
Founder of The Writing Guru®
