Online plagiarism, 'overpronation', the case of Hector Jason PT & CliftonPark.com

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Plagiarism is a serious offence. At the University we could remove students from the course if they do it. Those that write content online and blog are always facing the issue of our content being plagiarized (stolen) by thieves and have our work passed off as their own with no credit or acknowledgment given, let alone permission to use the work (unless it comes under the ‘fair use’ provisions of copyright law).

Sometimes I ignore it. Other times I file a DMCA to get them removed from Google; sometimes I file it with the website’s host to get the site taken down. This all takes time and effort that could easily be used to achieve other tasks. This time I am fighting back and exposing a thief. Enough is enough.

This all started yesterday when I caught a tweet from Ian G about an image of his that appeared on a website, CliftonPark.com:

I went to look for myself. My jaw dropped when I realized, that not only had the thief stolen Ian’s image, the scumbag had copied 100% my article on overpronation! So I tweeted Ian and Hector:

Here is a screenshot of the article:


Here is a link to Ian’s original image and to my original article! There is no point playing "spot the difference" .... there is no difference!

In my tweet back to Ian and Hector Jasen from Hector PT, I was expecting at the very least an acknowledgement and an apology. I was prepared to file DMCA takedown if that was not forthcoming. If they linked to my work, I probably would have let it go.

What did Hector Jason PT do? No apology. He has now protected or hidden his tweets to help cover his tracks and removed Ian’s image (without apologizing) and removed my article (without apologizing). Here is a link to the article that has been rewritten removing my content and Ian's image. {SEE BELOW: THIS LINK DOES NOT WORK; Its been removed}

If you look closer at the other articles written by Hector and search for snippets of text in a plagiarism checker, most of his work has some plagiarized content in it!, at least in part! If CliftonPark.com had any once of credibility they would cut him loose and expose the bottom dweller for his plagiarism. He has exposed them to potential legal problems.

These people need to be removed from the ecosystem. We can also hope that their sperm counts are as low as their IQ, as society can not afford to have them reproduce.

 

Yes. As you know Craig, I have recently been a victim of this too with a substantial piece of my writing being taken from here and put into a soon to be published textbook. Luckily I spotted it prior to publication of the book but only because the editor asked me to write an endorsement for the back-cover of the book and sent me the book to review!

 

It is happening. Makes you wary of what you post, anywhere. Not as serious as both of the above blatant plagiarism, however I was warned by the local Head of School to watch what I post here, as it has been copied `n pasted into student assignments. He also said "you gotta stop giving away your research for free...."

Indeed.

 

Jeez - you got to admire their brass-neck!

 

To be fair to the editor that sent me the book to review, he was only a co-author of the chapter in which my writing was included; the other author of the chapter being the other editor. It has been agreed to credit me for this work, so I'm OK with it now.

I know Kevin has had similar problems with his elegant diagrams popping up all over the place, hence he has started to sign them.

 

I brought this to CliftonPark.com's attention. They did apologize:

Shame that Hector Jason has not got the ability to do the same. At least this thread here on Podiatry Arena will be a testimonial to his credibility.

 

I usually file at least couple of DMCA takedowns a month*. That is how big a problem this is.

This story turned up in my alerts a couple of days ago:
Site plagiarizes blog posts, then files DMCA takedown on originals

*even had a successful one against TFS last month!

 

I agree with Craig on this one - what ground my gears was the was he didn't even front up once we'd called him on it. Also, one of the other pictures he used originally is one of Pete Larsen's that I recognise from his blog. So that's at least 3 different sites he has lifted from for just one blog post!

What bothers me about plagiarism generally is the fact that a so called professional would have the audacity to just 'Ctrl+C' then 'Ctrl+V' to another fellow professionals work. Sure, I don't write particularly high brow stuff (and certainly nothing of Simon or Kevin's calibre) but I do spend considerable time on most things I 'publish' online. Certainly significantly more time than the 4 seconds it takes someone to steal it for their own gains.

I have had 4 UK based Podiatrists (and they are just the ones I have 'caught') directly copy or steal content from either my main website or blog. Sometimes it has been actual text, sometimes logos or pictures and even website layout/design has been copied. I haven't called all of them on it as it gets me unnecessarily wound up and I seldom get an outcome which feels worth all that annoyance. Of those I have told of my findings the response I usually get is that I should be "flattered". That winds me up more as it is just a cop out they use once they know they have been caught and bowled. They should be far more embarrassed than they ever seem to be in my opinion. Shameless!! I just can't describe how furious it makes me. The irony is that if they contacted me beforehand and asked to use something then I would probably be ok with it (assuming credit was appropriately given where necessary).

The only thing I can do about this is add these individuals to my own personal sh1t list. Forgiven but not forgotten - once on this list there's not a way off it. Podiatry is a small enough profession that I firmly believe what goes around comes around.

 

I do not understand why people do it, it takes 1 minute to write a e-mail and ask to use the text or image then reference to the owners request.

I use Kevin's diagrams a lot in presentations are they are very good and clear, however I reference them to him and ask permission before hand.

It is just bloody decent manners.

 

Bad form I agree but you can console yourself that at least you published something worth plagiarising in the first place! :drinks

 

A good outcome. CliftonPark.com have cut Hector Jason loose and deleted all his blog posts (the others looked at least partially plagiarized as well!)

This sort of stealing of content is happening way to often, so it is good to see it dealt with properly by CliftonPark.com

What is particularly galling in this case, is this was not someone naive in plagiarism issues and copyright law, this was some who is allegedly a professional colleague with a University degree:
"professional": obviously not very professional
"colleague": colleagues do not do this
"University degree": how did he get that without knowing about plagiarism?

I have had an online presence since 1999! I have filed 100's of DMCA takedown notices. I have not once refused permission for anyone to reproduce my work, as long as they credit it ... why did he just not ask?

 

Another advantage in not being clever enough to publish; this would be most frustrating /annoying and unbelievable.

 

I have been able to use the common plagiarism of my illustrations for my own private amusement at times.

In a seminar from about 6-7 years ago, an owner of an orthotic lab was in the back of the seminar complaining to me that one of the other lecturers had used an image from their website in their lecture and that his lab should have been acknowledged. However, I had just watched one of his lab's employees give a lecture that used at least ten of my own illustrations, and not a single one of these illustrations had any acknowledgement to me or any permission from me to use my illustrations from the lecturer.

After the lab owner was finished complaining about the one image that someone had used without his permission, I said, "Yeah, it was very much like seeing a number of my illustratinons being used without any acknowledgement or permission from me from Dr. X (his employee) in his lecture, isn't it?"

I just smiled and walked away.

I do appreciate it when someone has the common courtesy to ask me beforehand if they can use my illustrations for their lectures or publications. Often times, I will even provide them with a higher quality image than the one they were going to use for their publication or lecture.

Like Simon said, I am now signing all my illustrations so that at least the presence of my signature informs people that these are my illustrations. When I write a newsletter, generally it takes almost as much time to do an original illustration as it takes to write the newsletter. Therefore, many hours have gone into these illustrations. In addition, I believe these illustrations have been a very important part of my ability to teach complex foot and lower extremity biomechanics concepts over the past quarter century in my publications and lectures.

Thank you, Simon and Eric and others, for publicly acknowledging that.

 

Not really plagiarism but I have had to pull up several 'colleagues' who have used the title of a company which I, together with a real colleague own.

Craig; how about a further 'Hall of Shame' on this site devoted to 'outing' these plagiarists so that they can be treated with the contempt they deserve, as well as giving warning to other colleagues who publish to check the offending web sites?

Cheers

Bill

 

Yep,

Enjoyed your excellent Plantar Plate powerpoint presentation....nicely referenced diagrams of Kevins` illustrations :drinks

Cheers,
Bel

 

Nick sent me his paper on plantar plate injuries in athletes (complete with illustrations and nice photos) about 6 months ago and I also thought it was very nicely done. Good job Nick!

 

Similarly I think it boils down to simple good manners if nothing else. Beyond that, if you are putting something out there for public consumption then enjoy the credit for writing a good paper but acknowledge the shoulders of those you have stood on to get there. It will likely gain you even more credit anyway!