Have you felt the rumble of online writers’ forums over the last several days? One particularly outrageous example of blatant plagiarism and outright ignorance reared its ugly head over an article that was illegally reprinted in a magazine called Cook’s Source. Basically, a woman named Monica Gaudio was contacted by a friend asking how she managed to get an article published in Cook’s Source. Only problem was, Monica didn’t give her permission for the article to be used by the magazine.
Long story short, Monica contacted Cook’s Source and received a snippy, rude and inaccurate reply from the Editor which indicated that everything on the Internet is public domain and they didn’t have to even use her name on the article, much less get her permission to reprint it.
W  R  O  N  G  !  !
So many people take off on this “fair use” defense without having a clue what that means. They assume they can lift copy or content from any website and use it in any way they choose. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, here’s a direct link to the U.S. Library of Congress website that explains fair use.
In this followup, we see the huge extent that even this “professional” (and I use that term loosely) organization went to scrape content for many issues over time. Pitiful. Just pitiful.
Writers, musicians, publishers, video and movie producers and countless others who try to make things easier on their customers by publishing information and products digitally are repaid by untold numbers of copyright infringement. And we wonder why prices keep rising. We can’t seem to figure out why more and more laws are passed. It’s because these people are being stolen from.
Every time you photocopy sheet music and give it to a friend. All those CDs you’ve copied and handed out to coworkers. Pictures you’ve swiped from the ‘Net and used on your website without permission. Those ebooks you uploaded to the free download sites (yes, even if you purchased the ebooks). They are all instances of illegal copyright infringement. “Well, nobody’s getting hurt.” Wrong again. *I* was getting hurt. Now you know somebody.
So much so, in fact, that I pulled my books from digital delivery and went to paper. That raises costs, means me and my team have to spend more time preparing packages for shipping and our customers have to wait to receive their products instead of getting instant access to PDF files. But I had been ripped off so many times and found my books on one too many free download sites. That was it.
“But if I paid for the ebook (or DVD, or CD, etc.) I can do with it what I please.”
Wrong for the 3rd time!
What you are paying for is a license, not for ownership of the song, ebook, podcast, etc. So no, you cannot do with it what you please.
OK, rant over. The whole Cook’s thing just got my blood boiling once more and I had to get it out. If you have questions, don’t assume. Ask them (here if you’d like) and avoid facing the wrath of some publisher, copywriter or videographer who might hunt you down later and demand (legally) compensation for his/her work.
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Grrr… yes, this happens to us all the time. So, so frustrating to see our content (as well as images of inflatables) pasted all over our competitors’ sites. Maybe you can clear something up about the music burning part. I *thought* when you made music purchases from the iTunes store, you were allowed to use them up to 7 times. (Not sure where I got that number.) I have been guilty of making mix “tapes” for two of my friends using purchased music.
Hi Stephanie,
According to Wiki, there are 3 restrictions on songs downloaded from iTunes, one of which is the limit of seven uses. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store#Digital_rights_management
I have not verified this on the iTunes website, however.
Hi Karon,
I’ve been following the Cook’s Source thing, too, clenching my fists. In the end, people like the Cook’s Source publisher are their own worst enemies. Although . . . there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Now the nation knows about Cook’s Source. Anyway, I’ve been writing for a newsletter that has a circulation of about 500. Each month, I reprint a recipe, giving full attribution to the source. Do you think I’m in violation of copyright law? Hard to find stuff on recipes. Anyway, plan to buy more of you stuff soon.
Suzanne Delzio
Hi Suzanne! That depends on where the recipes are coming from. Most websites have a terms of use page or some other information that lets you know whether the content can be reprinted and under what conditions. If you can’t find anything, I’d email the website owners (I’m assuming you’re getting the recipes online) to ask what their policies are.