Legal Research

Too many cooks? : If you can?t stand the Copyright, stay out of the Web

By scott

Ever heard of Judith Griggs? No? Well she is becoming quite well known as the editor of Cooks Source magazine ? which has found itself in the spotlight this week over allegations of copyright infringement. These surfaced on the blog of Monica Gaudio when she discovered that an article she had written had appeared in the magazine. She had been credited as the author, but the article had been rewritten slightly. Having never heard of the publication Ms Gaudio contacted then ask why they were using her work without her permission.

It is here that Judith Griggs began her quest for internet fame, when - as editor of the publication - she replied to Ms Gaudio.

“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!”

Let’s pause one moment to digest (and ignore any grammatical errors from someone who never charges ‘young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces’ ) ‘ I do know about copyright laws’ Judith says. She may know about them, but sadly she doesn’t appear to actually understand them if she also believes that ‘ the web is considered “public domain”‘

As news of the story spread via Twitter and Facebook, the publication’s Facebook page started to become inundated with comments ? almost universally negative ones. After a while Judith stepped up again to calm things down:

“Hi Folks!
Well, here I am with egg on my face! I did apologise to Monica via email, but aparently it wasnt enough for her. To all of you, thank you for your interest in Cooks Source and Again, to Monica, I am sorry ? my bad!
You did find a way to get your ?pound of flesh?? we used to have 110 ?friends,? we now have 1,870? wow!
Best to all, Judith?

When someone has given you a shovel, you really do need to know when it is time to just put it down and to stop digging. Judith’s continued ‘light’ tone about the whole matter is quite breathtaking. If ever there was a chance to judge the ‘mood’ of the people, it was missed here.

I’m sure Judith is a lovely person ? and I certainly do not approve of some of the more nasty and personal attacks on her. Seriously, no one died, people; but she has played her hand in this all wrong, and to make matters worse people are now uncovering other items in her publication that seem to have been republished from other sources (some of whom have their own legal departments), without even the acknowledgement that was afforded Monica’s article.

Sadly, the future for Cooks Source is looking bleak, something I’m sure even Monica Gaudio had no desire to see when she posted her blog post.

Full post as published by Information Overload on November 05, 2010 (boomark / email).