Colin Craig has a private archive of his poems, songs and fiction writing.

Colin Craig has tabled legal papers seeking more than $13,000 from blogger Cameron Slater for publishing the former politician's romantic poetry on his blog.

Craig, who identifies himself as a secret songwriter, poet and fiction author, says he wants to set the record straight after suffering humiliation when his poem The Two Of Me was published on the Whaleoil site last year.

In a statement of claim provided by Slater, the former Conservative Party leader states only two copies existed of the poem. One Craig kept stored in his "personal literary archive", the other was owned by his former press secretary, Rachel MacGregor.

SUPPLIED Former Conservative Party press secretary Rachel MacGregor owned a copy of Craig's poem, "Two Of Me'.

Jordan Williams, the executive director of the Taxpayers Union, is named as a second defendant.

"Mr Craig has elected to forego publishing his creative writing for consumption by the public in order to, amongst other reasons, preserve his privacy," the document states.

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KEVIN STENT / FAIRFAX NZ Blogger Cameron Slater is battling Craig in court.

The legal claim, lodged with the North Shore District Court last week, went on to say Craig did not intend the poem to be seen by the public.

Slater's company, Social Media Consultants Ltd, had "flagrantly infringed Mr Craig's copyright in the poem to garner notoriety and/or derive revenue".

Slater said the legal action was "just farcical".

"That is only what I can fathom. He clearly doesn't understand copyright law, he clearly doesn't understand how media works, he clearly doesn't understand what fair use is.

"I would hope that if he is using a lawyer that he's gonna get his money back.

"I imagine this will get dismissed at the first hearing as being without merit. It's a joke. And it's pretty sad, really."

Craig, who is representing himself, said he had taken the action to set the record straight.

"I do think that people need to know who's acted in what way and what said was true and what said was false. And so when my wife and I publicly published a book last year, we did say we would be taking legal proceedings so it would be clear who had done what and what was true and what was false."

In a separate action, Craig is suing Slater for defamation.

Craig resigned as Conservative Party leader In June last year, after some members of the board tried to confront him over allegations he sexually harassed MacGregor.

He denied the allegations but admitted to 'inappropriate conduct', and a complaint to the Human Rights Commission was settled after mediation.

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