ANNOUNCEMENT: My eBook Has Been Stolen

• March 14, 2006
• Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
• no comments

Late last week, I discovered that my ebook was once again stolen (third time), and being sold on another website. As with the first two, we are rapidly pursuing legal intervention. Differently than the first two times, this website owner refuses to cooperate. He even refuses to reveal his address or phone number! (You will notice that mine is on my home page.)

Brian Cohen is the owner of www.INeedMarriageHelp.com. If you were to read his letter, you would think that he created the ebook. This is not the case. The document was stolen by someone who claimed to have freelanced it. That person has sold the piece as an original work at least three times.

I believe that Brian Cohen bought the ebook, thinking it was an original piece. To that point, he is innocent. Unfortunately, even when faced with evidence to the contrary, Mr. Cohen refuses to remove his copyright infringement.

There are two ironies to this. First, Mr. Cohen is selling his ebook at twice the price of mine! I have attempted to keep my ebook reasonably priced, while others are charging 2, 3, even 4 times as much.

The second irony is that Mr. Cohen is finding people through a website that purports to rate online products, www.toponlineproducts.com. What is most interesting about this is that the website is a paid inclusion site. They do not review the products. Instead, they charge the sites “reviewed” for each person that goes to that site. You can tell the difference between those paying and those being used as “straw men,” because those sites that don’t pay (and therefore get poor reviews) say “review pending.”

Those that created this site know that someone visiting will not wait for a review to appear. They trust the site, and get taken. The irony for me is that www.INeedMarriageHelp.com gets a number 1 review. Glowing review, it says. My site has a poor review. And here is what reveals the falseness of this site: the same book is supposedly reviewed, since that site is actually selling mine!

Some people will say that I am only airing dirty laundry. Unfortunately, Mr. Cohen has opted to cease discussions with me. My attorney will now be involved. I am using the same vehicle that hides Mr. Cohen to reveal him (the internet).