Finally someone who speaks politely.
Uhh... sorry, what? Oh, yeah, sure. Always glad to be polite whenever I can. May I use this occasion to compliment your comprehension skill too?
Moving to the topic, let me answer your
in-between-the-topic question first, as this is the easiest and the most obvious:
I am also waiting for an answer to the article section:
Why am I in the scam section? if you don't show the facts that it's a scam, that's wrong too.
Please read the board title carefully, several times if needed. The board called, in case you still failed to realize, scam
accusations. Keyword: "accusations". If I may use the broad term given by wikipedia --as you seems to love this encyclopedia so much:
Let's summarize the situation based on your point of view:
Lafu accuses you of plagiarism, which you consider equal to a copyright infringement, and thus --in your opinion-- is not correct, borderline wrongful, because you've contacted the original author,
LockNess, and they couldn't provide you the depository of the copyright for said document and/or written content, thus the said work is not copyrighted, and thus you should be free to copy them. Ultimately, these series of events, according to your lawyer, it is not correct and deserve a lawsuit for defamation.
Am I correct so far?
Lets continue, if we may further condense the situation, it goes to:
LockNess did not register their work, so there's no copyright infringement, anything that or anyone who said otherwise --you plagiarize/stole copyrighted property-- is wrong.
I have to be the bringer of bad news, but allow me to let you familiarize yourself with the fact that there is this rule that said upon being published, a content owner
automatically get their work protected by copyright. I am not sure with how it goes in Italy, but I know a lot of --if not most, or even every-- countries apply this rule.
People often use the terms "author rights" and "literary rights" to mean copyrights. Copyrights are legal rights that attach to certain types of intellectual property. Copyrights are granted under federal law to authors of creative works at the time of the work's creation in a fixed, tangible form. Authors do not have to apply for or file a copyright. [...]
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. In copyright law, there are a lot of different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works, plays, and so much more!
[...]
And no, it is not limited to published papers, a website content are also automatically protected once it is published, and that nice "©" symbol is just a nail to the coffin, the unequivocal proof that the plagiat --that's you-- are completely aware that the material they're about to copy is protected --automatically.
Remember, any piece of writing or artwork is automatically protected under U.S. copyright law, regardless of whether it is formally registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, the federal agency charged with overseeing copyright registration. However, placing the "©" conspicuously on the footer of the website provides a clear signal to Internet users that you are aware of your rights and intend to enforce them.
Should you ever need to sue an infringer, the existence of the copyright notice will help to establish that the defendant had actual notice of your rights. Put differently, he or she will not be able to claim ignorance.
Honestly, I'm curious how your lawyer didn't know or didn't explain these matters to you; worse, they suggested and encouraged you the exact opposite. This rule is pretty much known and drilled to students of higher education --during associate, bachelor, master, and doctorate-- to help them wrote a good and "legal" paper.
Now, one question is still left unanswered: wheth Lafu should sue you for defamation, based on your accusation that he didn't check facts before publishing this accusation, which leads to a case where you tainted his reputation. And another question seems to raise: whether Lock.Ness should sue you as well, for a blatant proof of copyright infringement.
Please share us your lawyer's insight regarding this.