Hi, I just got an email from Ezinearticles the other day saying my article has been declined because it's already in use by another author. I really was horrified by this as the article cost over $10 of my hard earned money to purchase it. I had bought this article in 2006. I had published around the web during the time I had purchased it. I then found out that my his article is infringing on my article as his all seem to be published this year including the places that I have it. The only thing that he has done is changed the title. I have checked the other articles from where I bought this article and have had no problem. It clearly shows that this author is infringing on lots of other authors work and is including his crappy bio line in the article instead of yours. I can clearly say that its not just my article that this author *cough (he's not even an author as he has not really written anything apart from the bio line)* has stolen quite a few other authors work. Here is someone elses work: http://www.worldofclean.co.uk/index.php?show_aux_page=37 Infringing author: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/beware-of-the-rubber-check-156791.html So as you can see it's not just me, but other authors aswell. It's people like this that really damage the internet in a very big way. If you were an author, why would you want to pay thousands on unique and original content if others just take a few seconds to steal it and then use it as their own? Doesn't make much sense to me why people would want to pay. I went to one of the links of his in the resource box and it goes to a not so good looking blog that has ways of getting traffic and things on it. What a JOKE!!!
I've had this happen loads of times to me. 9/10 times by sending a cease and desist notice to the "author" and also by sending a copy to any article directories where they have submitted your article will see it pulled. Good luck. You can find an example c&d at: http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/INTELLECTUALPROPERTY/contract/cease.htm
I would just make sure that the article you bought wasn't stolen as well? If you paid $10 this could be the case. With that said publishing your article to these free article directories is a huge mistake for many reasons. This is just one of them... Most people scan those article directories for free content. Others scan these directories for content and then run software to tweak the content to make it somewhat original. These directories hold very little backlink weight in the world of search engines these days, they are filled with awful content and SPAM. They are a mess and you're better off keeping away from them.