Imitation is the finest form of flattery.....

As a concept this seems fine, but what happens when that imitation is uncredited. I recently gave a talk to a group of business people, and about a week later I happened to be at a social gathering where one of my former audience happened to be in attendance. I overheard him chatting to a small group and was quite pleased to hear him using an amusing anecdote that I had introduced during my talk. It is always gratifying to know that you have had an impact even in just a small way. I was just smiling quietly to myself when I heard one of the group as they broke up say, whilst patting this chap on the back "Great story buddy" to which the response came "Thanks, it's one of those stories that just come to me sometimes...."

Now maybe I'm just being precious, but would it really have hurt for him to say something like "Yeah, I really liked it when I first heard it"? I have no issue particularly with being a quiet influence rather than having my name plastered everywhere. I don't particularly need any additional marketing, but it does rather annoy me when someone else claims my work as their own. I'm pretty certain I ma not alone in this. I know several comedians who guard their jokes jealously, even resording to law suits when ownership of a joke is in dispute. I know writers who are always on the lookout for plagarism, sometimes to the point of obsession. I know that my case is somewhat different since my livelihood doesn't depend on my rights as owner of my intellectual property, but that isn't really the point.

It is more a question of ethics and moral standards. I would never claim someone elses work as my own, in the same way that I would never take credit for someone elses success, and perhaps naively, I expect those that I interact with to act in the same way. Perhaps I need to be more ruthless and litigious about such things, but why should I have to? I think perhaps a better soultion is to have a little rant, get the feelings off my chest and move on to bigger and more important things. I knew there was a reason for writing a blog ;)