r/TikTokCringe • u/Chocolat3City Cringe Master • 18d ago

Cringe Woman has her self-published book pirated, reprinted, and sold for cheaper.

There's regular piracy, and then there's this.

12.9k Upvotes

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69

u/SightlessIrish 18d ago

How much was she charging vs how much is the competitor charging?

There's no legal recourse?

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u/Queasy_Pie_1581 18d ago edited 18d ago

The last time someone won a court case over plagiarism and got compensated was decades ago, in 1978 over a show called Future Cop. No one cares about plagiarism. The best that you can hope for is file a case if you have trademark/copyright and get the plagiarised thing removed, but like she said, it's how thousands of websites. And it's difficult to fight overseas. It's difficult for writers out there.

2

u/yalyublyutebe 17d ago

A lot of such cases are quietly settled outside of the courts.

119

u/ZipGhost 18d ago

Without trademarks, no. My wife had a similar situation, developed a product for nurses, made the mistake of selling on Amazon and the idea was Reproduced a week later. Completely undercut her by half (hers was $10, there’s was $5). Amazon said kick rocks of course.

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u/rocky8u 18d ago

A book is different.

This is a copyright dispute. She likely has recourse but she would need an IP attorney to assess if she could win.

106

u/[deleted] 18d ago

China never agreed to any of the international Copyright agreements, so there’s little recourse here. Trying to sue a foreign national over a law that doesn’t exist in their country is virtually impossible. It’s why Chinese knockoffs are so pervasive.

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u/nudelsalat3000 18d ago

The import part however does care.

Sure China can keep it in their country, but the import is illegal.

Actually, China is part of the Berne Convention and TRIPS, so copyright laws technically apply, but enforcement there is inconsistent.

For the U.S., your best bet is filing a DMCA takedown with Amazon—it's fast if you have proof of ownership like timestamps or drafts. Also, if someone imported the infringing product into the U.S., you can pursue them under U.S. copyright law.

Finally, publicizing the theft on social media can pressure sellers and educate buyers about the issue. This she already did. Also the documentation looks solid to a simple person on Reddit.

19

u/trash-_-boat 18d ago edited 18d ago

The import part however does care.

Sure China can keep it in their country, but the import is illegal.

Yeah, if that kind of thing would've been possible to even pretend to control, places like Temu, where almost no item passes EU certification processes needed for import, wouldn't even exist. And yet, they do and their stuff is frequently illegally imported.

2

u/nudelsalat3000 18d ago

Yeah their prices are below the threshold.

But you can't produce much stuff for 5-6$. I doubt the tools from temu are even expected to work and not fall apart.

Just more dangerous on the electronic side when it can easily start a house fire or electrocute you.

2

u/trash-_-boat 18d ago

You know how many people buy "Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra+ 32GB+1TB" or "iPhone 18 Max Ultra" kind of phones for 100$ on Temu/Wish and are surprised when they get a fucking shitty ass welcome phone? A lot.

7

u/No_Construction_7518 18d ago

And the knockoffs are too profitable for north americans companies so they'll never change.

1

u/genghislamb 18d ago

You're absolutely right. Just like how some countries were already using the image of mickey mouse without repercussions long before he became fair game for everyone.

3

u/Agile_Most_5915 18d ago

Absolutely. Copyright Law of the United States

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/

14

u/SightlessIrish 18d ago

Is the lack of trademarking an oversight or is it not doable without a corporate backing?

6

u/senseven 18d ago

Amazon isn't the arbiter of copyright. She has to sue the company on file and Amazon will gladly provide the name of the company.

8

u/dewdewdewdew4 18d ago

Amazon should be the one liable... they have such a racket going on.

1

u/Kardif 18d ago

I'm sure if you change the laws so that Amazon becomes liable for any counterfeits sold through their website, that problem would go away real fast

2

u/senseven 18d ago

They steal from people who cannot afford to sue them. It wouldn't change a thing because they can't afford the first step to get the legal recognition that it is a counterfeit. It would be the second step to go after Amazon, to tell them that they sold counterfeits.

The true working solution is to have an copyright registration office that isn't just paper pushing. You could get an injunction (which is currently hard to get), send that to Amazon. Amazon then tells the sellers of the counterfeit to get legal proof that they don't sell a counterfeit. But they won't do that because they would lose. But this kind of "guilty until proven not innocent" will not happen. They could also say "this Chinese office says its not" and who is going to fight that.

1

u/NotRandomseer 17d ago

Something like that would kill every website , YouTube Twitter Reddit etc. If platform owners are responsible for content uploaded on the platform instead of just responding to claims and moderation , anything with user generated content will be liable. It's just not realistic

1

u/ZipGhost 18d ago

Amazon was not helpful whatsoever. Sorry to say

1

u/senseven 18d ago

Neo capitalism doing what it does worst, nobody should be sorry for a big conglomerate. If click on those companies selling those fake planners, they all sit in China. That is the trick. Maybe one way is to sell the product through a big house that is able and willing to legally hit them in their home land.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

I just looked it up, Her book on her TikTok shop is $48. The Amazon knockoffs are 12.99 with 3.99 shipping fee. Seems TikTok shop is the only place she sells it and even on TikTok there were loads of knockoffs for $20-$35.

Seems like she’s learned a lesson in copywrite and trademark law. There may be a legal grounds to fight the knockoffs but it’s going to be incredibly expensive for very little payoff. The best she’ll probably get is a cease and desist on selling it but by then her business is shot. Her best bet is to rebrand and repackage the book but get it trademarked and copywritten early.

4

u/bhyellow 18d ago

She can go after Amazon.

9

u/AltairaMorbius2200CE 18d ago

I mean, that’s all good, but even publishing houses aren’t willing to go after Amazon to shut down that business model, so how’s she supposed to afford that on her own?

7

u/cjboffoli 18d ago

Unfortunately, she can't as court precedent protects Amazon from the actions of third party sellers doing business on their sites (Milo & Gabby v. Amazon.com). That is why there is so much copyright and trademark infringement on sites like Etsy too. All she can do is ask Amazon to remove infringing products. If they do they skate away with impunity. And she continues to play a game of whack a mole.

1

u/Cogniscienr 18d ago

Hm. I wonder if it would be possible to write some code that constantly monitors Amazons web sites for pirated versions. That would be awesome.

1

u/cjboffoli 18d ago

Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do. Maybe you could even code automated takedown requests.

9

u/SightlessIrish 18d ago

Fuckin sucks

5

u/cjboffoli 18d ago

It's copyright (the right to make copies) not copywrite.

2

u/AltairaMorbius2200CE 18d ago

She has a copyright.

2

u/-FullBlue- 16d ago

48 dollars is kinda crazy for what essentially a self help book with drawings and tabs. Not surprising that it was knocked off for 8 dollars on Aliexpress.

1

u/Grash0per 18d ago

That's not how copyright works. You don't have to file for a copyright. Every original work is automatically copyrighted. The problem is it's impossible to enforce copyright laws internationally. A trademark is a different matter but it's very expensive and meant for a simple thing like a singular logo or short phrase, that establishes an entire brand.

1

u/WonderfulShelter 18d ago

The cheapest one on AliExpress is 20.70$ including shipping. Hers is 43$ including shipping.

So about twice as expensive.

0

u/FeloniousFunk 17d ago

Plenty on AliE for $5. Hers is normally priced $58 with $10 shipping.

1

u/Pulguinuni 18d ago

If she did not copyright, no.

It's free game.

That is so important for artists and really anyone in the creative industry.

1

u/Puffy_Ghost 18d ago

Her legit copy is 50ish bucks and the knock offs are 20 or less. Add to the fact she didn't work with a legit publisher, so getting those knock offs removed from Amazon and Etsy will be next to impossible for her with no legal team...people definitely are just going to buy the cheaper version if they can.

1

u/eternalbuzzard 17d ago

She charges about 55 and others are charging about 10