June 20, 2008
Mr. Zandberg:
The Enterprise newspapers, published by the Herald Co. in Snohomish and King counties, Wash., cover local school and education issues in numerous communities, including Edmonds. I assume you know this, since some of this coverage has earned attention on your blog.
Unfortunately, you are violating the law.
These stories are copyright material, protected under both state and federal laws.
Most bloggers provide commentary on news articles and supply links to the news sites that originate them. Computer users who click on those links are then sent to the publication’s site. This is a legal and widely accepted practice.
Your blog, unfortunately, has republished the entire content of our articles. In doing so, you have appropriated material for which you have not paid or secured legal reprint rights.
Our company is committed to protecting our legal right to editorial work products – articles, photographs, graphics and page images – that our employees produce. We must demand that your website remove the full-text versions of our stories and all of our photographs. It should be a technically simple matter for your organization to comply with this request, and it is our expectation that the situation be corrected by the end of the day, June 24, 2008.
As noted above, publishing a summary of these articles and providing a link to the Edmonds Enterprise site, hosted on HeraldNet.com, would satisfy our demand.
Failure to respond to our demand could expose you to legal liability, including financial damages.
Sincerely,
Neal Pattison
The Herald co
Everett, WA
425-339-3480
July 15, 2008
Ms. Koenig:
The Edmonds School District Weblog (Blog) covers local school and education issues in the Edmonds School District. We assume you know this because your employer recently sent a cautionary letter to the blog (June 20, 2008) expressing the criteria whereby we could utilize portions of your employer's published work.
The blog fully approves and authorizes the use of any and all written work, generated by the blog, for use in any other publication, provided appropriate citations are made and references back to the blog are included in any published work.
“Most bloggers provide commentary on news articles and supply links to the news sites that originate them. Computer users who click on those links are then sent to the publication’s site. This is a legal and widely accepted practice.”
We fully expect the reverse to apply, in that if the Enterprise chooses to draw from the material contained in the blog, an active link will be included in any internet-based publication.
“...publishing a summary of these articles and providing a link to the Edmonds Enterprise site, hosted on HeraldNet.com, would satisfy our demand.”
The blog is not making any demands but rather seeking reciprocity regarding the effective release of information.
Sincerely,
Mark Zandberg
www.esd15.org
Mr. Zandberg:
The Enterprise newspapers, published by the Herald Co. in Snohomish and King counties, Wash., cover local school and education issues in numerous communities, including Edmonds. I assume you know this, since some of this coverage has earned attention on your blog.
Unfortunately, you are violating the law.
These stories are copyright material, protected under both state and federal laws.
Most bloggers provide commentary on news articles and supply links to the news sites that originate them. Computer users who click on those links are then sent to the publication’s site. This is a legal and widely accepted practice.
Your blog, unfortunately, has republished the entire content of our articles. In doing so, you have appropriated material for which you have not paid or secured legal reprint rights.
Our company is committed to protecting our legal right to editorial work products – articles, photographs, graphics and page images – that our employees produce. We must demand that your website remove the full-text versions of our stories and all of our photographs. It should be a technically simple matter for your organization to comply with this request, and it is our expectation that the situation be corrected by the end of the day, June 24, 2008.
As noted above, publishing a summary of these articles and providing a link to the Edmonds Enterprise site, hosted on HeraldNet.com, would satisfy our demand.
Failure to respond to our demand could expose you to legal liability, including financial damages.
Sincerely,
Neal Pattison
The Herald co
Everett, WA
425-339-3480
July 15, 2008
Ms. Koenig:
The Edmonds School District Weblog (Blog) covers local school and education issues in the Edmonds School District. We assume you know this because your employer recently sent a cautionary letter to the blog (June 20, 2008) expressing the criteria whereby we could utilize portions of your employer's published work.
The blog fully approves and authorizes the use of any and all written work, generated by the blog, for use in any other publication, provided appropriate citations are made and references back to the blog are included in any published work.
“Most bloggers provide commentary on news articles and supply links to the news sites that originate them. Computer users who click on those links are then sent to the publication’s site. This is a legal and widely accepted practice.”
We fully expect the reverse to apply, in that if the Enterprise chooses to draw from the material contained in the blog, an active link will be included in any internet-based publication.
“...publishing a summary of these articles and providing a link to the Edmonds Enterprise site, hosted on HeraldNet.com, would satisfy our demand.”
The blog is not making any demands but rather seeking reciprocity regarding the effective release of information.
Sincerely,
Mark Zandberg
www.esd15.org
3 comments:
OK. In the vain of correctly citing published material (and none is, God forbid, reprinted verbatim here), please check out these two articles from the current Newsweek magazine.
www.newsweek.com/id/145843
www.newsweek.com/id/145871
The first is by Jonathan Alter and the second by Anna Quindlen.
Alter's article makes the argument that "the school system is broken because the teachers' union is too strong." Quindlen tells a tale of a 27 year veteran teacher who is thwarted by her administration and school board with students dropping out of school as a result.
Who's right? Who's wrong? Is it "what's best for kids?" Good luck.
I hope that it was a specific editorial choice to print them in the same issue. Otherwise the irony of it is just too much.
Easy enough Mark, to remove the full article and provide the link. Fair enough to ask them to do the same (which they are unlikely to do) in the spirit of reciprocation. It is not illegal to quote the articles and provide reference. It could be they do not always stand by what it is they write. This is, quite frankly, just an harassment but in their interests they have been advised in the advent of a lawsuit not to be named in complicity. Permission for use of their articles to support any of your case or opinions cannot be seen as given or as ever having been granted.
So this is a KYAC moment for the paper?
See those lawyers are ruining everything.
Post a Comment