What could have been a simple copyright infringement has become a full-blown circus after the internet got a hold of the tale of Monica ‘illadore‘ Gaudio, who had an article published in Cooks Source magazine – without her knowledge any such magazine even existed. Upon contacting the publication, she was told she should be considered ‘lucky’, and that she should pay the magazine for running her story.
Dear Cooks Source: What kind of learning disability do you have? This is the internet. We’re gonna find out.
“I first phoned the magazine then sent a quick note to the ‘Contact Us’ information page, asking them what happened and how they got my article,” says Monica. “Apparently, it was just copied straight off the Godecookery webpage. As you can see from the page, it is copyrighted and it is also on a Domain name that I own.”
That pretty much solves it right there. But some thieves are idiots. Or have balls. Or both. Enter Judith Griggs.
Says Monica of her correspondence with Cook’s Source: “I wanted an apology on Facebook, a printed apology in the magazine and $130 donation (which turns out to be about $0.10 per word of the original article) to be given to the Columbia School of Journalism.” Not a steep price for journalism.
But Ms. Griggs, having apparently never operated an internet before, had no plans to be decent. Check out this honest-to-Odin transcript of her email.
“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!”
If you are a writer, artist, designer, or creative professional of any kind, you are now red-faced and seething with rage untold at yet another client who is, for all intents and purposes, an intellectual wasteland. But there’s a happy(ish?) ending! The internet itself, fortunately, got a hold of this story and, well… I don’t think Cook’s Source is gonna have many readers in the coming months.
Check out their Facebook page.
Let this be a lesson to you, Ms. Griggs, and all your ilk – those who would seek a logo design for twenty dollars, who would pilfer a DeviantArtist unawares, who would Ctrl+C a writer’s thoughtful prose – that again, we are the internet. We are going to find out, and we will destroy you. Every time.
My personal condolences to Monica Gaurido (my god I hope I’m spelling that right). I trust you feel vindicated by the beatdown these scumbags have received.
Update: It has been revealed on the Cooks Source Facebook page that more mainstream publications such as WebMD.com and Sunset magazine have also been plagiarized by Cooks Source.
“…the web is considered ‘public domain’…”
Er…what? That’s just not true.
I know, I read that line and couldn’t read any further into her correspondence for fear of catching her ‘stupid’.
It is true though… If Monica wants to create a fuss and pretend that her “s— don’t stink” when it comes to writing then she also needs a wake-up call. In the magazine world it takes a lot of time to get to the positions that these people are in, it’s not like the internet where you can just set up a blog… there’s millions of dollars going through these companies and they’ll do whatever the hell they want to fill content. Professionally, young writers material never goes right onto the page either… editing is important. You may call BS on Judith for being a bigot, but she’s not out of line for her practice. Still think your “s— dont stink” Monica?
So yeah, that link in the article is now their “old” facebook page. They just started a second one about six hours ago because of “hackers” aka the people who were unhappy and posting about it on their wall. The new facebook is full of passive aggressive comments from the company like this little jewel :
“There’s lots of people here that do not seem to understand a few basics yet they seem to all be experts in the print business.”
And
“I don’t know what some of you think you are going to achieve? We apologized, now go find a rabbit to catch or something”
Yeah…. pretty terrible. The new facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cooks-Source-Mag/159072764128073?v=wall
I can’t believe these people.
This is true? what we have come
Truly speaking most of the articles from the “well know” news papers are just bad copies…
Rarely they check the sources… the veracity of them… they heard them from gossips…
Besides the news about “war” and “terrorism” are nothing but marketing, let’s remember that “no one is writing for free” and these people is being payed, “national security is a great business” and this people need the marketing so we can be thankful to be protected by them…