I Filed a Federal Trade Commission Complaint Today Against Amazon

Don't forget to sign the petition in the upper left hand corner!!  

And, today I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission today against Amazon.  They publish and sell some of Boyer's plagiarized work, so they're responsible for making products (books) out of stolen materials.  They may argue that they can't know which books are plagiarized and it's not their responsibility to check.  If they do, they'll look really, really stupid.  Every other major business is held accountable by the law, and they're no different.  They think they're big and they can do what they want.  Too bad.

You see, Amazon is a business associate of America's sleaziest serial plagiarist- David B. Boyer.  Being associated with a big time plagiarist is probably bad for business.   Not good for their image.

It's my first federal complaint.  But Barnes and Noble is next in line.

Right now, they're all collecting profits from stolen writing and not even checking their raw materials (our writing).  Think about this- if B Thoughtful can track down that these works are stolen, why can't Amazon get off their corporate ass and do the same?

Maybe they ought to pay B Thoughtful to do it for them.  Or start doing it themselves.  Right now they look like they enjoy being partners with plagiarists because they keep publishing stolen works and splitting the profits with the plagiarists.

And, so you can see what I sent the Federal Trade Commission, here's the formal complaint I filed:

*****

"I've bought books from Amazon by an author David B. Boyer of Vincennes, IN that turned out to be plagiarized.  I informed amazon that they were plagiarized and they are still selling them.  In fact, mine isnt the only case.  David B. Boyer is the most prolific in stealing other writers works, having them turned into books by Amazon and others so they both profit from them, but Ive been reading about all sorts of other authors that find their works stolen, turned into books by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Lulu then sold.  They then pay the plagiarist a share of the profits for the stolen goods.  Doesnt that make them business partners.  These are physical goods and they are stolen.  And, they sell them across the country.  Isnt that across state lines?

And Amazon and Barnes and Noble have the resources to check and see if the books are stolen content.  If another company bought stolen goods and kept reselling them for profit, wouldnt that be Consumer Fraud?

Theress a whole webwsite devoted to this one thief David Boyer and Amazon has been there and they still have all sorts of his stolen books up for sale.  The Website is http:b-thoughtful2.blogspot.com

This is just blatant consumer fraud.  But Amazon won't stop."

Young Writers Vulnerable to Plagiarizing Publishers

"Don't Let David B. Boyer Touch My Story, Mommy."

"It's an entirely new phenomena," said Dr. Icky.

He tapped his index finger on the wall mounted coumpter screen indicating the picture of the crying little girl and her desperate mother you see above.  I felt a chill go down my spine as I realized the implications of what the doctor was saying.

"So, this is a documented, peer-reviewed study proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that David Boyer, the sleazy plagiarist from Vincennes, Indiana is the reason little girls all across the country are suffering PTSS?"

He nodded authoritatively.  Dr. Icky is Dean of Sociopathic studies at Vincennes, Indiana University.

"Yes," he said.  "PTSS, or Pre-plagiary Traumatic Stress Syndrome as it is sometimes known, is in fact the fear that little girls have of David Boyer touching their stories."

I wrote slowly, making sure that I  spelled PTSS properly.

"So they're afraid David Boyer will touch their writing even if he hasn't?  Why is that, doctor?"

"Ahhh, now you are thinking like a scientist," he said approvingly.

"I enjoy watching Mr. Wizard re-runs on Hulu.com," I said.

"Hmmmm..." he replied.  "Perhaps we need to schedule an appointment for you.  But we can get to that later.  For now, do you know why the woman in this photo is so upset?"

I looked closer.

"No."

"She learned David Boyer stole a story from a sixteen year old girl.  It shocked her.  It horrified her.  She told me her fear of Boyer's improper touching of other people's writings so affected her daughter that the little girl developed PTSS within days.  A sixteen year old girl- what kind of a man would steal the inner thoughts of a sixteen year old girl?"

I thought about it.

"Could it be linked to wearing a black trench coat and no pants near schoolyards?"  I asked.

Dr. Icky looked uncomfortable as tugged at his lab coat lapel.

"That's a creepy thought," he said finally.

"No," I said.  "A fifty-plus year old man hunched over a computer stealing stories from sixteen year old girls- now that's a really creepy thought."

An Open Letter to Amazon

They're big, they've got money and clout and we all need their help to protect our works from plagiary for profit, a.k.a. Consumer Fraud.  NEW: Here's their FAX number in case you want to send a letter of support

206-266-7010 FAX

Amazon Legal Dept. Fax

(Send Them a FAX Saying We Need Them to Contact Tom Irons, Indiana Deputy Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division and Tell Him Boyer Publishing & Selling Books with Stolen Content is Consumer Fraud!)

Here's the letter I just FAXED them:

*****

October 19, 2011

Amazon.com
Legal Dept.
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226

Reference File No. 10-CP-62157, Consumer Fraud Filing, Office of the Indiana Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division. Filed with Deputy Attorney General Tom Irons, 302 W. Washington St., 5th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46204

Dear Amazon Legal Department:

I want you to write a letter.

My name is Ferrel D. Moore and I’ve filed the Consumer Fraud Complaint cited above against the plagiarizing publisher David Boyer of Vincennes, IN. Mr. Boyer has plagiarized over 60 writers and is currently producing extensively plagiarized books using your publishing services and selling these products to unsuspecting consumers using Amazon’s storefront.

Two examples of this are his books “Shadow Dolls” and “Mystery Indiana.” In them, he has plagiarized Richard Matheson, Mr. Matheson’s son, George R.R. Martin and many others. To see the extent of his documented plagiaries, you may visit the site we prepared for Mr. Irons, the Deputy Attorney General of the state of Indiana, Consumer Fraud Division. The website address is https://sites.google.com/site/bthoughtful/

The National Writers Union, Local 1981 UAW, the SFWA and the HWA have all written Mr. Irons in support of my filing, as well as hundreds of writers across the country.

I and many other authors have filed consumer fraud charges against Mr. Boyer. We are filing consumer fraud because the laws apply. He is selling stolen works, re-packaging them under false label as his own works and then selling them to consumers across the country using Amazon’s publishing services and storefront to profit even though this leads to the “…leads to sales wherein the consumers either do not receive the good or service or the good or service is materially different than what the seller initially represented it to be.” Which is, in a word, consumer fraud.

To the best of all of our knowledge, Amazon is unknowingly participating in this enterprise. Amazon’s reputation for dealing swiftly and efficiently with such instances of fraud is impeccable.

It is for this reason that I’m asking you to send a letter of support for our efforts to treat this as consumer fraud. We, both the writers and cited organizations supporting our efforts, understand that copyright violations are involved. These avenues are, however, too expensive for the average writer to pursue, especially when the matter crosses state lines. For example, I spent over $7,000 having my works removed from his books that you and others published.

Consumer fraud is a different matter. There is no cost for a writer to file a consumer fraud complaint with the appropriate state Attorney General’s Office.

But we need your help to stop this plagiarizing publisher and others like him. He changes his name, changes his book titles, and then publishing the same stolen works all over again. But you have his social security number, which he uses to publish these works. It doesn’t mean that every word he publishes is plagiarized. It takes time to dig into that.

In cases such as those documented on the website I directed you to, the evidence is clear.

Would you please consider sending a letter to the Deputy Attorney General of the State of Indiana supporting the principal of my Consumer Fraud filing? You are not the police force for the book world, but you are the single strongest, most respected presence in the world for the written word and we very much need your help.

Google David Boyer, plagiarist. See what you come up with.

Then write a letter, if you think the cause is just, to:

Deputy Attorney General Tom Irons
Office of the Indiana State Attorney General
Consumer Fraud Division
302 W. W. Washington St., 5th Floor,
Indianapolis, IN 46204

I’m posting this as an open letter to you on my writers blog http://thewriterandthewhitecat.blogspot.com so that the other hundreds of other writers sending letters to Mr. Irons and organizations who have done the same can see what I’m asking. There are too many of them involved to contact them separately.

Ferrel D. Moore
White Cat Publications, LLC.
33080 Industrial Road
Livonia, MI 48150
editor@whitecatpublications.com

Make It Your New Year's Resolution to Join the National Writers Union

Join the National Writers Union

I'm a proud member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981 and today I'm asking you to join, too.  We represent both fiction and nonfiction writers.  But, you may say, I became a writer/poet/screenplay writer/ magazine freelancer to be a creatively independent professional. Why should I join a union?

Put aside your stereotypes for a minute and I'll tell you why.  This isn't about politics- it's about protecting your work and your income as a writer no matter which end of the political spectrum you embrace.

It's a fact.  In this day and age, writers need representation.  I know from first-hand experience.  When I needed help, the National Writers Union was there for me.  But do you need to join this union?  I think you should because of the benefits.  This quote from the NWU Home Page makes the case:

"Now, more than ever, with the consolidation of power into the hands of ever-larger corporate entities and with the advent of technologies that facilitate the exploitation of a writer’s work, writers need an organization with the clout and know-how to protect our interests."

Corporations are taking over the publishing industry like never before.  The National Writers Union has stood up to the likes of the New York Times.  They raised the warning flag about Google moving in on our copyrights.  Believe me, they can stand with you for fair treatment from your publisher, no matter how big or small that publisher or media giant is. 

And writers suffer financially as much and sometimes more than the rest of the workforce during these difficult times. Many of us don't have health insurance, dental and/or vision insurance. We can't always afford lawyers.  We don't know where to go for contract advice. When our work is being threatened by plagiarists, copyright infringment or publishers that don't respect our electronic rights, most writers stand alone. When we're not paid on time or at all by publishers, what can we do? What do we do?

Most writers can't afford to stand up to an Indie Press publisher when they're not paid on time or at all, much less stand up to a large publishing house. In fact, most freelance writers can't even get a press pass.

Regular readers of this blog know that I was plagiarized a while back, and after it sunk in that someone had stolen from me,do you know who I turned to for both advice and moral support? It was to you, my fellow bloggers, and the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. So I thought I should bring the two of you together. Why might my fellow bloggers/ writers be interested in the NWU?  Because the internet is still full of scam publishers and plagiarists and because the NWU is still the only labor union that represents writers.


My father was a Union President at the Post Office. He also owned his own business, repairing appliances at night. He believed in the right to being an independent, and he also believed in collective representation. The two are not mutually contradictory.  As writers, most of us work independently at our writing business, but, like my father, I believe we still have the right to benefit from professional collective representation.

Stay with me for the next two posts and I'll tell you why being a Union member doesn't take the romance out of writing for me, it puts the excitement back in it!

Help Pin the Tail on this Plagiarist.

He Can't Write So He Stole My Story

"Electrocuting the Clowns"



I wrote a short story titled "Electrocuting the Clowns."  It was copyrighted in 2003 in an anthology called "Beyond the Porch Light."  Check it out on Amazon and you'll see I wrote it and that the story is there and was copyrighted in 2003. 

Here's one of many places this guy publishes my story under his name: http://www.booksie.com/horror/short_story/horrormaster/electrocuting-the-clowns.  There's more and he's clumsy.

As  a member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981, I am fortunate enough to be able to report this a plan for investigating this action.  The first step was to research everything about him and his activities.

Here's his bio/lies at this link: http://authordavidboyer.webs.com/photos/My-book-covers/IndieFilmHandbookR2.pdf on page 233.  To save you the work of having to click there, here's what this clown says about his work:

About The Author 


David Byron is the founder/CEO of NVF Magazine, an online publication
that promotes Indie filmmakers, actors, actresses, FX artists, graphic artists,
and musicians. He is the author of five non-fiction books, including The
Queens of Scream, Film Prodigies & Legends, Cinemassacres, Hot & Horrifying:
The First Ladies of Horror, and The Indie Filmmakers Handbook.
His other credits now include fiction writer, poet, screenwriter, producer,
and editor. His short stories, Electrocuting The Clowns and The First Cut Is The
Deepest, were both nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in 2008. He lives in
Indiana with his cats, Toby and Buckwheat, who are both a constant inspiration
for another story or film. You may view his magazine at www.freewebs.
com/nvhmag1 or email him at his personal email, db5948@gmail.com.

I know I wrote "Electrocuting the Clowns" and am going after that, but does anyone know who wrote "The First Cut is the Deepest?"  Did he steal that from someone else?

I've already notified the HWA about this guy.  I can't find any record of either story being nominated.  They cite this stuff on the web.

Oh, and his real name seems to be David Boyer.  He uses a lot of names.  Doc Byron, Iron Dave, David Boyer (real name), David Brookes, Leo Wolfe, Jerry Burkette.

Also, I'm notifying Lulu.com of the need to cease and desist making the story available to people and asking for what monies they paid out for the stolen property.  Amazon is next and... well, you get the picture.
Including the South African magazine.
 
This loser even cites my story on his Mingle web site.

But will you help me find out as much as I can about this man and his plagiarist activities.  This could happen to any of us.  I'm sure most of you are more web savvy than I am, and I'd appreciate the benefit of your knowledge and skills.  It's important that we stop this guy because there are other people on the web who say that he stole their work as well. 


This plagiarst poses as an editor looking for submissions to his magazines, but is he really looking for stories to steal so he can claim he wrote them?  Please look into this and see what you can find out about his activities.  Check out how many places on the web where he sells my story: 

He's selling it as a download on Lulu.com.  He's published it in a South African magazine.  He's got it in an anthology.  Take a look at these three links as starting points:

Play detective.  See how much you can find out about this creep.

This could happen to you, too.  So I'd appreciate your help. 

How would you stop this clown?  What can we do as a community of honest writers to bust plagiarists?

Have you ever looked on the web to see what's been stolen from you?