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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Taking someone else's work for your own use without permission or compensation is copyright infringement.
The legal definition of copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it.
For some reason, people seem to think that they can lift for their own purposes articles that they find on the Internet, especially those that are clearly marked that they are copyright protected.
Wrong. It's a copyright violation and legally actionable. It's not "Fair Use", it's outright piracy. It doesn't make a difference if you give attribution or not, you've lifted the article without permission and are directing readers away from the original site of publication.
Legally, the author has the right to seek payment for the unauthorized use of the material.
It's a lot like taking your car to the garage and expecting the mechanic to work on it and fix it when it's not running right. He does so by researching out the problem and using his expertise, resources and materials to repair it. He expects to be paid for his work as does anyone who maintains a business and performs a service-even a newspaper reporter and publisher.
The author of a work owns exclusive rights to that work. Copyright owners have the exclusive right to reproduce their copyrighted work and make certain uses of it. Anyone else who wishes to reproduce the copyrighted work, perform or display it publicly or distribute it, either in hard copy or by electronic transmission, must get the permission of the copyright owner to do so.
The creative work of The North Country Gazette is owned by the authors of that work. The authors of the by-lined articles, columns and features published at The North Country Gazette maintain the exclusive rights to their work and the unsigned editorials, op-eds and commentaries of the publication remain the sole property of the publisher, even if there is no by-line on the article. The copyright notice is clearly stated at the bottom of each article.
We have been absolutely incredulous over the past couple of weeks to see our exclusive and extensively researched work in the Schiavo case and several other topics republished at other sites, directing traffic away from The North Country Gazette, without even having asked permission. Intellectual property is like tangible property such as a TV, a computer, a car. You can't take other people's property without their permission or purchase.
While doing Google searches this week, we saw a headline about TerriPAC and a phrase that sounded suspiciously like an editorial just published at The North Country Gazette. We were astounded when we clicked on the link and it took us to LifeNews.com where we saw our entire editorial on the subject republished at that site with the copyright notice removed. No request had been received for reprint permission and no permission had been given and it directed people away from the article at NCG.
When we contacted the site manager, Steven Ertelt in essence said that because he believes that The North Country Gazette "advocates" the same causes that he does that we should have no problem with him reprinting our material without permission and without compensation, using it for his own purposes, to further HIS causes. We are not affiliated with any pro-life, right to life group nor are we associated with any euthanasia or right-to-die group and we are certainly not affiliated with LifeNews.com. His causes are not necessarily ours.
Mr. Ertelt also seems to feel that we should work for nothing, "for the cause" and that for some reason, we should be pleased to have other organizations take our work for their own purposes without compensation or permission. That's like someone coming into your yard and helping themselves to your car without permission so they can go to the store because after all, we're all on the same page----we all need to go to the store once in awhile and because you have a car and the guy up the street doesn't, you should allow him to use your property "for the cause". However, the legal notice at his own site regarding the use of LifeNews.com content states "you may not sell, rent, modify, create derivative works from, or in any way commercially use the materials carried on LifeNews.com, nor may you infringe upon any of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights contained in the materials".
So why does he feel that he can take those at The North Country Gazette for his own purposes?
His site contains a notice that states "all material displayed, transmitted on LifeNews.com, including but not limited to text, photographs, images, illustrations, video clips, audio clips and graphics are owned by LifeNews.com and are protected by copyright.
So why doesn't he think the same is in effect at The North Country Gazette? In that NCG material is then displayed at LifeNews, is he in essence then claiming ownership?
He then states "you've proven that you're more concerned with making a buck than good journalism or caring about the causes you claim to support". This is the individual who SELLS annual news licensing agreements to other media for the "privilege" of reprinting news from LifeNews.com so I guess in essence, if someone wants to reprint our editorial on TerriPAC or any other material at LifeNews.com, Mr. Ertelt will sell that organization that right. And he calls us mercenary?
As far as good journalism is concerned, we have awards for our work and as for supporting the "causes your claim to support", I don't recall having any discussion with Mr. Ertelt about any causes NCG claims to support. NCG is a news publication, not a public interest or advocacy group. "Concerned with making a buck?" Like most people, we're concerned with paying the bills.
At this point, access to The North Country Gazette is free. But because we, like everyone else, have bills to pay including the costs of maintaining the website as well as gathering the news and because of the repetitive unauthorized use of NCG material, that will soon change.
There have been several other instances of outright piracy of material, especially on the AOL message boards and Topix. One AOL poster not only republished the entire exclusive Schiavo article in AOL News, but even reprinted the notice at the bottom which expressly prohibited it, that notice that advises that NCG maintains all rights and that republishing and reprinting was not allowed without express written permission. Apparently she had a problem understanding what that meant.
When contacted, the woman tried to claim it was "fair use". What's fair about taking someone's work without permission and directing traffic away from NCG's income sources? Instead of just apologizing and saying it wouldn't happen again, the AOL posters then unleashed malicious attacks because they were told they couldn't do it.
When someone takes one of our articles and uses it for their own use, it obviously directs readers and potential patrons of our advertisers away from The North Country Gazette and adversely affects our statistics for daily readership and ultimately affects potential income. The statistics that we keep are important to us because not only are they used for advertising and marketing purposes, but helps in tracking purposes, telling us what articles are being read the most, what interests the public the most and helps us plan future projects. While republishing an article may seem harmless, it could have serious legal and security implications.
We allow, and in fact encourage, the dissemination of links to our articles and commentary and allow the reprint of the first paragraph or two of the story but total reproduction of any of our work without express written permission, directing readers away from our site, is not only prohibited by the ownership of The North Country Gazette but by law. In special instances, we have allowed certain organizations to reprint entire articles, organizations who had the courtesy to seek permission first. If we're going to allow everyone to take our material for their own personal use and gain, then we might as well close down NCG and just offer up our work to anyone who wants it to publish it.
Remember The Empire Journal, the online publication produced by co-publishers June Maxam and Ginger Berlin? Berlin tried to claim that although Maxam researched and wrote the articles, that Berlin owned and controlled them. She removed many of the articles from TEJ and withheld many articles authored by Maxam. Berlin wrongfully excluded Maxam from the operation of The Empire Journal last September despite Maxam having an ownership interest. Berlin was later to claim that it was only "sweat equity" but has since acknowledged the partnership did and does still legally exist, trying to demand that Maxam pay for its dissolution. From April 1, 2005 to approximately Sept. 15, 2005, Berlin paid Maxam $450. That $450 was the grand total that Maxam received for 5 ½ months of labor and expenses. In October, she demanded the $450 be returned.
Berlin continues to refuse to produce an accounting of the business or pertinent documents and has trashed The Empire Journal, allowing the news site to go dormant and stagnant. The matter is in litigation. Ownership of the work remains with the author unless there is a signed written agreement otherwise. There isn't.
In the very near future, due to the repetitive unauthorized use of NCG material, there will be changes at The North Country Gazette. Access to the daily news will continue to be free. However, access to investigative features such as the Schiavo case, Baumgartner case and various other features as well as editorials, columns, commentary and letters to the editor will be accessible by membership only.
Our mission is to make The North Country Gazette your first choice online for the daily news, to consistently, independently and responsibly deliver in-depth investigative journalism, to increase civic participation by giving citizens the knowledge, insightful analysis and information necessary to become advocates for good government and social progress, especially judicial and legal reform.
Information about copyright infringement and unauthorized use of intellectual property can be found at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17_10_5.html;
the website for the U.S. Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov/.
For information about copyright on the Internet, see http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/copynet.htm
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/121505EditorialNoReprints.html
6-09-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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