Hi everyone, As of yesterday, my ex-employer explained to me that I was terminated for working for him. I worked as an independent contractor. My job was to create him articles that were around 500-600 words long, and I was never told that my articles where the final copy. (and why would someone hire a 21 y.o. who they've never met in person to create complete to write something that would fully represent their company is beyond me) Anyways, he would give me a list of articles that I would be writing the similar topic for, so when I gave him my articles they were pieces of other articles that I found useful, as well I would add where I believed keywords would be most appropriate within the article. I thought that these articles were for information purposes only, however my employer told me that I had plagiarized because what I did was copy/paste. However, what I am about to tell you is what I then realized was my actual purpose for the writing, which he never told me to begin with. He said that he gives these articles to his clients, instead what I believed was just for information purposes only. So, he put a stop pay in my check, demanded that I give him back $192.00 for what he had pay me since I started working for him, as well as an 'apology letter'. I am hoping that all of you can help me out... cause I am confused and very shaken, for he keeps threatening me, saying he will get his lawyers. The only other piece of information that I can provide is that I did not sign any contracts whatsoever, as well as my apology email: Dear*****: I am young in my career but believe I completed my assignments as they were explained to me and with the understanding that my work would be further edited before publication as that of your own company. I am of course disappointed that you are not happy with my work product and that we end our service relationship in this manner. Even at a young age no one likes to lose a valued client. Sincerely, Jeff and here was his response I believe that you are still in denial and playing games! The work had been reviewed and the content in some instances was AWESOME! It just wasyou're your work or yours! I will be contacting my Attorney shortly. I have email logs of the content you sent me. Maybe you are too young to see what is still to come but you are old enough to steal content that is not yours and resell it!!!!! All the help and advice is greatly appreciated!
As well, if this helps out at all, the articles that I created I had the link of the website article referenced. And even more, I did not have control of what happened to my work, since I did not know where it went or for what purpose after it left my hands.
It doesn't matter what you thought the articles would be used for, they still should have been written in your own words. If the person who hired you wanted someone just to collect some links he would have told you that. What you have done constitutes copyright infringement - it doesn't matter that you included the links to the source material - and actually puts the guy who hired you in a bad legal position, since he would be considered responsible for their content. If you honestly didn't know this would be a problem (something I find a little hard to believe), then chalk this up as a learning experience.
Jeff, what you did was wrong. If you were hired to write and instead you cut and pasted information you got from other sources (whether online or in print), then you did not do what you were paid to do. Period. The fact that you referenced your source is meaningless unless you included the "borrowed" material in quotes and clearly indicated that it was not your own words. That being said, if you were truly an independent contractor (and not an employee merely labeled as an independent contractor), the person who paid you probably has grounds to recover what he paid you. You breached the contract, whether or not it was in writing. Whether it is worth his time and effort to go after you is quite another matter. In the US, the rule in most cases is that each party has to bear his own legal costs. Unless he came after you in small claims court without hiring an attorney, his costs would far exceed any amount he could recover from you. His recovery, by the way, is measured by his "damages" and not just what he paid you. If he had to refund $5000 to a client because of your plagiarism, that well might be his damages. Still, proving that in court could be costly to him. As for your "theft," he has no real cause to complain. The work you "stole" is someone else's, not his. Obviously, the holder of the copyright on the work you plagiarized does have rights against you, but your old boss is not the one to bring those actions. Your lack of knowledge that he was going to deliver your work to a client rather than use it internally is not really relevant to the basic issue. It might be relevant to the issue of damages if he tried to go after you for lost profits on clients who wanted their money back. That's my two cents worth. Forum posts are not legal advice, are for informational and educational purposes only, and are not a substitute for proper consultation with legal counsel.
Thanks Nonny and B.A. for your help. Honestly, I have learned my lesson... and that is to make sure that I know what my work is exactly. Nonny, honestly I has no clue that the work was for clients. I truly believe my articles where for informational/researching purposes only, and not for rewriting articles. What I don't understand is the fact that he accepted my work when he reviewed them... so why did he not realize that I was not doing what he wanted me to do? Nonetheless, this was totally a large misunderstanding. I have paid him back for what he has paid me so far, so lesson learned. Thanks again.