I just wanted to be sure you were all aware of some recent copyright issues on the old interwebs.

I was kind of late to this story, but if you haven’t read the incredible story of Cooks Source magazine plagiarizing a blogger, here it is on her own blog. Turns out Cooks Source barely has any of their own material; almost all of it is pulled from other sources with out permission from or credit to the initial source. The Cooks Source Facebook page has been taken over by people making fun of their entitlement and in the discussions there is quite the list of other articles and organizations from which they stole material.

Yesterday, one of my favorite bloggers, a fun and charming woman named Suzanne McMinn found a photograph in Daily Goat Journal which she knew to be hers. The photo was taken a a friend’s farm. Suzanne used the photo on her website, and gave her friends permission to use it on their website. Their website gives all credit and ownership of the photo to Suzanne.

The Daily Goat is one of several magazine’s published by Countryside Publications. According to Suzanne, they also publish “Backyard Poultry, Countryside & Small Stock Journal, and sheep! Magazine.” The Daily Goat used the photo both online and in print, only mentioning it was a photo on Suzanne’s friends’ farm.

Suzanne contacted the head of Countryside Publication, and was basically brushed aside as unworthy of attention by Dave Belanger. She wrote them a letter threatening legal action if they do not compensate her for the photo, and as of now they have merely added ‘photo by Suzanne McMinn’ to the website. They have not agreed to compensate her, to remove the photo from the website, or to admit their mistake in not doing so in the next print issue of Daily Goat.

Please, if you read any of the above publications, let them know how unhappy you are that they have used material without permission and seem to be ignoring her now that she has called them on it.

All of us who write on the web should be aware of copyright issues, what we can do to protect ourselves, and what we can do if our material is used without our permission. Likewise, we should also be aware of how and what we can use without permission, and how we must give credit when appropriate.

Also, if you want some fun reading, are interested in how to do things yourself which every person in the world used to know how to do, are interested in farming, or really love recipes, check out Suzanne’s site – chickensintheroad.com