Plagiarism, Contracts, and You

Here’s where things get a little strange: Author #2 wrote the articles for Quest Software.  His contract with Quest allowed him to keep the material for his own use too, and he could use it in seminars and books. Author #2 modified the articles, and contributed them to a book for Author #1. Author #1 noticed the similarity and asked us to take ours down. From Quest’s perspective, it’s fine: we contracted for the material, and we had the rights to use it in the wiki.  We don’t need to sue anyone, and it’s completely okay that it’s used in the book too.  We applaud anyone who can make a buck off their content as long as the contract is written up to protect everyone. Things might not be so clear for Author #1 and his publisher, though.  Depending on the publisher’s contract, they may have demanded all-new, all-original works for their book.  I hope for the authors and the publisher that it works out well, but…

<em>Man this gets confusing</em>