[Plagiarism] How To Protect Your Copyright With A Video Camera

Last year we told the story of how Noam Galai’s self portrait image had been stolen and reprinted hundreds of times around the world without his permission. What people were shocked to find out was Noam did not threaten or take legal action of any kind (instead he used the momentum to propel his career). Duane Lester of All American Blogger decided to go a different route and film his confrontation with the paper who plagiarized his work.

You can read Duane’s full article on his site here. I’m all for upholding copyright and believe those who copy and paste (or print and sell) other people’s work should be held accountable. I’m not sure if showing up to the front door of a copyright violator and filming the incident is necessarily the best thing to do but that is exactly what happened in this case. Duane marched into The Oregon Times Observer and demanded that the publication of his original written piece be paid for on the spot. After some hesitation, the newspaper wrote Mr. Lester a check for $500 which might have been a small price to pay compared to the full legal battle that could have ensued.

After watching this video, it made me think, if I was faced with having to deal with a copyright infringement suit, could I ever stoop to this level? It might be easy to say “no” but without having been in Duane Lester’s shoes, maybe I’d be surprised by my own actions to mend such a wrong doing. What do you guys think after watching this? Are Lester’s actions commendable or did he exploit this old man in a similar way his own article was exploited?