Cooks Source steals copyrighted material, claims author should pay them
I looked back in the posts and didn't see anything about this fiasco, so I thought I would share. It's somewhat relevant to this community, as it's about posting recipes on the internet and plagiarism.
I read Chickens in the Road, a blog by Suzanne McMinn about life, farming, and cooking, and came across a post about plagiarism copyright infringement. I started reading links, and found nihilistic-kid's post:
"A friend of mine has a story to tell-her article on early modern apple pies of interest to medieval recreationists was copied wholesale and published in the ad-driven, newsstand-distributed, for-profit magazine Cook's Source [sic] without permission or payment."
The writer in question is Monica Gaudio (illadore), and this is the post that was stolen (Gawker.com has a screencap of the Cooks Source page). She posted about it:
"After the first couple of emails, the editor of Cooks Source asked me what I wanted -- I responded that 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."
This is the response she received from Judith Griggs, the editor of Cooks Source:
"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!"
Here's a Facebook page of Cooks Source stolen content, and Twitter has been rallying as well. Go internets! This is not the sort of publicity that Cooks Source wanted.
Cooks Source website
Cooks Source Facebook (full of angry comments)
UPDATE: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has proposed a new word:
griggs
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): griggs'd
Pronunciation: gr\ i \gz
1. To use content on the web without permission, then request payment from original author for rewrites and editing.
2. To remain ignorant of plagiarism, ethics, copyright, and asshat behavior.
Etymology: From Cook's Source editor Judith Griggs' use of Monica's article from GodeCookery without attribution or permission, and from Griggs' subsequent rejection and ridicule of Monica's request for compensation.
Example of usage: "Why'd you get an F on that essay?" "I griggs'd the professor's doctoral thesis from her website, and I even cleaned it up for her and told her she should give me an A, but she failed me anyway."
Alternate usage: "For tomorrow's deadline, I'm going to griggs some article from LiveJournal but edit it to remove the humor and interestingness.
It's on Urban Dictionary as well.
UPDATE II: This is Judith Griggs' apology (posted on Facebook Thursday at 3:33pm):
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
As of Sunday afternoon, Cooks Source's Facebook page has 5,548 Friends.
UPDATE III:
· Know Your Meme: Cooks Source Recipe Plagiarism Scandal
· CrookSource
I read Chickens in the Road, a blog by Suzanne McMinn about life, farming, and cooking, and came across a post about plagiarism copyright infringement. I started reading links, and found nihilistic-kid's post:
"A friend of mine has a story to tell-her article on early modern apple pies of interest to medieval recreationists was copied wholesale and published in the ad-driven, newsstand-distributed, for-profit magazine Cook's Source [sic] without permission or payment."
The writer in question is Monica Gaudio (illadore), and this is the post that was stolen (Gawker.com has a screencap of the Cooks Source page). She posted about it:
"After the first couple of emails, the editor of Cooks Source asked me what I wanted -- I responded that 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."
This is the response she received from Judith Griggs, the editor of Cooks Source:
"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!"
Here's a Facebook page of Cooks Source stolen content, and Twitter has been rallying as well. Go internets! This is not the sort of publicity that Cooks Source wanted.
Cooks Source website
Cooks Source Facebook (full of angry comments)
UPDATE: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has proposed a new word:
griggs
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): griggs'd
Pronunciation: gr\ i \gz
1. To use content on the web without permission, then request payment from original author for rewrites and editing.
2. To remain ignorant of plagiarism, ethics, copyright, and asshat behavior.
Etymology: From Cook's Source editor Judith Griggs' use of Monica's article from GodeCookery without attribution or permission, and from Griggs' subsequent rejection and ridicule of Monica's request for compensation.
Example of usage: "Why'd you get an F on that essay?" "I griggs'd the professor's doctoral thesis from her website, and I even cleaned it up for her and told her she should give me an A, but she failed me anyway."
Alternate usage: "For tomorrow's deadline, I'm going to griggs some article from LiveJournal but edit it to remove the humor and interestingness.
It's on Urban Dictionary as well.
UPDATE II: This is Judith Griggs' apology (posted on Facebook Thursday at 3:33pm):
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
As of Sunday afternoon, Cooks Source's Facebook page has 5,548 Friends.
UPDATE III:
· Know Your Meme: Cooks Source Recipe Plagiarism Scandal
· CrookSource