Stealing another speaker’s ideas

I gave a talk about better public speaking, and used the face of a clock as a mnemonic for all the essentials. Later I was approached by a member of the audience who told me how much he enjoyed the talk and especially the clock face idea, and he said he was going to use my idea in a speech he was planning to give soon.

I have a number of “signature” Hooks to capture the attention of my audiences. One of them is the use of Fortune Cookies, another is the 3-rope trick. It has come to my notice that another speaker has adopted both.

Back in 1985 I created the term “icrowave method” to describe my approach to training. I have seen the term in use on the internet.

My friend Paul Joslin attended a speech in the Midlands in which the speaker told a sob story that Paul had heard before in America. When he later tackled the speaker about it, the man said, “I doubt anyone in that audience had been to America, so it doesn’t matter.”

These are just a few examples of intellectual piracy. What do you think should be done about it?