If you're not following this, it's funny as hell.
There's a food magazine in New England called Cook's Source. Typical foodie mag, nothing crazy. Recently, they published an article and recipe about apple pies by a woman named Monica Gaudio. Pretty boring so far right?
One problem with this. The article was originally published in 2005 on Monica Gaudio's website. (More than a blog, not that it matters.) Mrs. Gaudio never was contacted, or given permission for, her article to be reprinted. This is a straight copyright violation.
She contacted the magazine editors, and asked for a public apology on the mag's Facebook page, and in printed magazine, and a donation to the Columbia School of Journalism in the amount of $0.10 per word. She asked for no money for herself, or anything more.
The response from the editor:
Quote:
"Yes Monica, I have been doing this for 3 decades, having been an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine. I do know about copyright laws. It was "my bad" indeed, and, as the magazine is put together in long sessions, tired eyes and minds somethings forget to do these things.
But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain" and you should be happy we just didn't "lift" your whole article and put someone else's name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me... ALWAYS for free!"
This response hit the rounds on Reddit, and it creating a major shitstorm.
The mag's Facebook page so far:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cooks-Sou ... 748?v=wallPeople have also gotten a list of all the companies that advertise in the mag, and so far a good number of them have decided to pull their advertising.
It's amazing how much the editor's unwillingness to say "I'm sorry" is going to cost them. They might not have a business in another month.
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