Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, But Plagiarism Bites

This has been an ongoing issue with my website almost since day one, so I thought I would finally write a blog post about it. I have had so many cases of other Realtors blatantly ripping off my website that I have lost count. I’m not talking about agents stealing concepts or general ideas that are on this site, I’m talking about flat out word-for-word (and in some cases, source code-for-source code) copying.

The most recent case was an email that I received from a prospective client. He forwarded me an email that he received from another Realtor (whom I have never met) about Theatre Park. The client was confused at the origin of the email and thought I was involved with it somehow. Reading through it I realized that the words of the email were copied and pasted from my recent blog post about Theatre Park. Brutal!

I know that the Toronto condo market is the NFL of condo markets, and that I am part of a hyper-competitive industry (30,000 Realtors in the Toronto Real Estate Board). We all copy each other to some extent (myself included), but when imitation crosses over into plagiarism, I can’t help but throw up a flag and call a foul.

So I wanted to put it to my loyal readers and followers: what should I do about these plagiarizers? Should I expose them publicly on this blog or some other forum? Should I threaten legal action (or actually pursue it) where warranted? Should I stop taking myself and my blog so seriously and ‘get over it’?

The angle I have taken to date has to simply ignore them, keep my eyes locked in the forward position, and concentrate my energies on creating the best, most informative, most BS-free, and most insightful Toronto condo blog on the Internet. What say you readers??