Jason Matthieu

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Name: "Jason Matthieu"
Also Known As: "Jason Maskerade"
Occupation: Writer, Businessman, Poker player[1]
Medium:
Works:
Official Website(s):
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore: Related pages

"Jason Matthieu", aka "Jason Maskerade," is the name of a commercial erotica writer who has been alleged to be a plagiarist of both erotica and fan fiction.

History

Works of erotic fiction have been sold online (Amazon, Fnac.com, Google play books, among others) by "Jason Maskerade" or "Jason Matthieu," either as a writer or a publisher, as early as 2013, usually for 2 euros. A total of more than 2000 stories were published, in French or in English. Many of these works have been identified as plagiarism, as the stories were available for free before in different erotic websites. Only a few have been taken down by its original author however, and "Jason Matthieu" remained active, claiming to be either "the number one erotic fiction writer in Europe" or that a team of writers wrote for him. [2]

On April 28th 2015, he began publishing fanfiction that was available for free on fanfiction.net, mainly from the Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, Naruto, Supernatural, Lord of the Rings and Once Upon a Time fandoms, for a price of approximately 4 euros each.[3] This was discovered on June 17th 2015, and a large number of the books were taken down 48 hours later. Shortly thereafter, the author's name on some of the Google Books was changed to "Fan Fiction FF" but still were listed as being published by Jason Maskerade.[4] In some countries the following text has been added by Google below the books: "This book is currently disabled and therefore not available for purchase on Google Play. Please note that the metadata are always accessible but users cannot access the content on Google Books."[5]

He also sells Vampire Diaries fanfiction in English at the Queensland Book Depot (QBD), for 5 dollars each.[6]

Example of Fan Story

One example of the type of fan stories written by others and being offered under Jason Matthieu's name is the French Supernatural story "A la croisée des destins. The story was written by barjy02 and published to FanFiction.net on Mar 24, 2013.[7] It was later posted to the AO3 platform on Feb 15, 2015.[8] The story was translated, with the authors permission into English on April 26, 2014 on FF.net.[9] The book was still listed in Google Books as being written by Jason Matthiew on June 21, 2015.[10]

Debate on the Responsibility of the Ebook Stores

On discussion forums, e-books seller's platforms such as Google play books and Fnac.com were accused of not caring enough about plagiarism. [11]. The works stolen from FF.net were clearly labelled as fanfictions (making them illegal to sell), which left some people wondering why they were allowed in the store in the first place.

After the stories were identified, Google Play books answered concerned fans by saying that only the original writer or the publisher could take them down. Many of these fans believed that Google Play was making a mistake and that fanfiction was illegal to sell.[12] The debate cooled down after many of the works were taken down by either "Jason Maskerade" or Google Play books.

By June 21, 2015 approximately 40+ fan books authored by Jason Matthieu and published by Jason Maskerade still remained listed at Google Books. A screenshot of these books has been archived here. Additional examples can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

Fan Reactions

Author Reactions

a FF.net post by writer La petite souris explaining why she would continue writing. An English translation is archived here

. At least one author suspended her writing in response:

"Aussi après plusieurs mois d'écriture du chapitre 10 de Voyage au bout du monde, vers Soi, vers l'Autre et par souci de protection de mes écrits j'ai le regret de vous annoncer une suspension de publication de tout nouveau chapitre pendant une durée indéterminée.

Soyez rassuré(e)s, je ne l'ai pas abandonné et je ne vous ai pas oublié... Le chapitre 10 est en cours d'écriture et sera publié dès que possible. Je vous remercie pour votre patience. Pour l'heure, je remercie les administrateurs de la page Face book " Fanfictions Orgueil et Préjugés et oeuvres Jane Austen " de faire connaître mon travail aux membres qui suivent leur page et de nous avoir alerté des plagiats en cours. À très bientôt, et en attendant, sortez et vivez... n'oubliez pas de vivre... On a qu'une vie, savourez-la."

[Translated by OTW Translation]: "After several months of writing chapter 10 of Voyage au bout du monde, vers Soi, vers l’Autre and out of a desire to protect my writing, I am sorry to inform you that the posting of all new chapters is suspended for an indeterminate time. Don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned it and I haven’t forgotten you… Chapter 10 is currently being written and will be posted as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience. For now, I want to thank the admins of Facebook page “Fanfictions Orgueil et Préjugés et oeuvres Jane Austen” for making my work known to members who follow their page and for alerting us to the current plagiarism.

We’ll be in contact again soon, and until then, go out and live… don’t forget to live… You only get one life, so enjoy it."[13]

Other authors suggested that fans should continue writing and translating fan fic into French:

"Jason Matthieu a bouleversé bon nombre d'auteurs en plagiant et revendant des fanfictions. Certains ont retiré leurs écrits de FF. Mais je pense que ce n'est pas la solution. Continuons de publier pour lui montrer de quel bois on se chauffe. Ce chapitre traduit sera donc dédié à tous les auteurs plagiés."


[Translated by OTW Translation]:"Jason Matthieu has deeply shaken a number of authors by plagiarizing and re-selling fanfictions. Some have removed their writings from FF. But I don’t think this is the answer. Let’s continue posting and show him what we’re made of. Consequently, this translated chapter will be dedicated to all plagiarized authors."[14].

Identity Controversy

Jason Matthieu a.k.a Jason Maskerade, a French poker player, has claimed he is not connected to the plagiarism and that his identity was stolen.[15] This is regarded by some fans as unlikely, as cached versions of his twitter account said that he was "a writer", and his former Amazon author page mentioned that he was a 23-year old poker player[16]. His twitter account is listed under both names" "@JasonMaskerade The Official Twitter Account of Jason Matthieu. French Professional Poker Player, Angel Investor, E-Marketing Writer."[17]

On June 18, Jason Matthieu used his twitter account to reach out to a FF.net Forum member:

"J'ai été contactée par Jason Maskerade sur Twitter. Il affirme que quelqu'un utilise son pseudo depuis 2012 pour booster les ventes et qu'il n'a jamais écrit de fanfictions. Il m'a demandé (je cite) de "faire suivre, car je n'ai pas le temps de m'occuper des bêtises" Evidemment, c'est invérifiable et il ne semble pas prêt à faire quelque chose pour modifier la situation. Je l'ai prévenu que cette histoire risque de lui causer plus de tort qu'il ne semble le penser. Je vous tiens au courant si jamais j'ai une réponse (pour l'instant tout ce qu'il a fait est de me demander de le follower hum) En attendant, soyons prudents et essayons de ne pas diffuser ce pseudo plus que nécessaire.


[Translated by OTW Translation]: "I’ve been contacted on Twitter by Jason Maskerade. He claims that someone has been using his username since 2012 to boost sales and that he’s never written fanfiction. He asked me (these are his words) to “spread the word, because I don’t have time to deal with silliness” Of course, this cannot be verified and he seems unwilling to do anything to change the state of things. I told him that this whole thing is likely to cause him more harm than he anticipates. I’ll keep you updated if I get an answer -- for now, all he’s done is ask me to follow him, hum -- In the meantime, let’s be careful and try not to divulge this username more than is necessary.[18]

On June 19th, Jason Matthieu posted a message on fanfiction.net explaining the identity theft, and that he had taken legal actions against it. He also said that the police thought the theft was from Abidjan. [19]

On June 20th, he again posted to the FF.net forum claiming to be a TwitPic investor and saying he had better things to do than to respond to the allegations. In his message he quoted the French Wikipedia article about TwitPic as proof he was an investor.[20] This only raised more doubts, as the addition of his name to the TwitPic Wikipedia article had been made the month before and was soon removed as vandalism.[21] He then changed the text of all his previous messages on FF.net to read "Je me suis assez expliqué, menée assez d'actions pour montrer ma bonne foi, maintenant je vous laisse dans votre délire de complot et manipulation." ("I explained enough, my actions should be enough to show my good faith, I now leave you to your delusions of conspiracy and manipulation") and left the FF.net forum.

However as one fan pointed out, whether "Jason Matthieu aka Jason Maskerade the poker player and erotica writer" was the victim of identity theft was largely irrelevant to them:

"Que le Jason Matthieu sur notre forum soit notre voleur ou quelqu'un qui s'est fait lui-même voler son identité ne nous concerne pas et ne change pas notre approche pour régler notre problème. Je vous prierais donc de cesser de vous agresser à ce sujet. Cela concerne évidemment aussi le Jason Matthieu, qui ferait mieux de relire ses posts avant de se prendre pour un professionnel de l'écriture et à qui des fanfictions n'ont pas été volées (à ma connaissance).
[Translated by OTW Translation]:"Whether the Jason Matthieu on our forum is our thief or whether he is someone whose own identity was stolen is not our concern and does not change our approach in dealing with this issue. Consequently, I ask that you stop harassing each other on this topic. This obviously applies to Jason Matthieu, too, who would be better off proofreading his posts before claiming to be a professional writer and whose fanfiction has not been stolen (to my knowledge)."[22]

References

  1. ^ According to his Amazon account. As of June 21, 2015 the author profile has been edited and the info removed. A copy of the text can still be read here.
  2. ^ See various posts by Kumfu at FF.net Forum: Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum Page 21, Archived version and Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum Page 22, Archived version
  3. ^ Examples: a "Jason+Matthieu"&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RAKHVYC9OcytsgHKkpIg&ved=0CMcBEOgBMBg harry Potter meets Twilight story posted on April 28, 205; archive link.
  4. ^ Seconde chance à l'amour: Harry Potter rencontre Twilight accessed June 21, 2015; archive link.
  5. ^ See Kuroneko95's post at Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version on page 14.
  6. ^ Jason Matthieu Search - QBD The Bookshop, Archived version
  7. ^ A la croisée des destins on FF.net, Archived version.
  8. ^ A la croisée des destins at AO3, Archived version.
  9. ^ Crossing destinies Chapter 1: The cage, a supernatural fanfic, Archived version
  10. ^ "Jason+Matthieu"&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BAOHVan0Hc_hoATLn6TABw&redir_esc=y Google Book entry; archived link.
  11. ^ Actuallité, Vol et commercialisation de Fanfictions, un petit commerce illégal (Accessed June 2015)
  12. ^ See SomeCoolName's comment at Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version on page 12.
  13. ^ Miss Felicty Sand Facebook page dated June 18, 2015; archive link.
  14. ^ The Story of a Fallen Star TRAD Chapter 12: Of Announcement and Heartbreak, an avengers fanfic, Archived version
  15. ^ Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version] Forum Francophone, Jason has since edited his original forum posts to remove his identity theft claims.
  16. ^ [Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version], Forum francophone. See also Vol et commercialisation de fanfictions, un petit commerce illégal, Archived version
  17. ^ Jason Matthieu (@JasonMaskerade), Archived version
  18. ^ See Loufoca's post at [Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version post on page 11.
  19. ^ Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version] Forum Francophone, Jason has since edited his original posts to remove his identity theft claims.
  20. ^ Jason has since edited his original posts to remove his claims of being an investor in TwitPit.
  21. ^ Wiki:TwitPic : Différence entre versions, Archived version.
  22. ^ A Smiling Cat's July 20, 2015 post in Vols de fanfictions & mise en vente - Le Salon des auteurs Forum, Archived version.
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