I've designing a website for a certain person who just released a new
book. I met with him today and he wants some new things put on the site
that I'm kind of leery about. A few VERY VERY well known magazines
wrote articles about his studies and his book. He gave me those
specific magazines (5 of them) and he wants me to scan those articles
and the cover and supply them as pdf links from his site. He even
thought it may be illegal and said if they see it we can take them
down.

I've never dealt with anything like this but my gut tells me it's way
wrong. Do I do it and if something bad happens will it be on him or
will it be on him and me? Or do I tell him this is wrong and I won't do
it.

What is the normal way to go about displaying/presenting an article a
famous magazine wrote about you?

Thanks

"smk17" <smk17@cornell.edu> wrote in message
news:1161004547.965702.125750@h48g2000cwc.googlegr oups.com...

| I've designing a website for a certain person who just released a new
| book. I met with him today and he wants some new things put on the site
| that I'm kind of leery about. A few VERY VERY well known magazines
| wrote articles about his studies and his book. He gave me those
| specific magazines (5 of them) and he wants me to scan those articles
| and the cover and supply them as pdf links from his site. He even
| thought it may be illegal and said if they see it we can take them
| down.
|
| I've never dealt with anything like this but my gut tells me it's way
| wrong. Do I do it and if something bad happens will it be on him or
| will it be on him and me? Or do I tell him this is wrong and I won't do
| it.
|
| What is the normal way to go about displaying/presenting an article a
| famous magazine wrote about you?
|
| Thanks

Ask for permission to use the article and plan to provide credits. Which
may or may not be granted. When we do something on this order we also
provide a link to the provider's web site as well. What goes 'round comes
'round and you will likely find that just asking has move you and your
client's stock with the magazine up considerably. Interesting observation
is the act of 'being like Cesar's wife' (above reproach) has proven to have
a long reaching effect.

If the magazine has the article on their web site you can provide a URL to
the article on their web site. (note this does not mean you can 'import' the
site data to your site)

Lacking permission it is a copy right violation and 'just take it down' is
not a safe business plan as there are legal damages incurred. In my
experience if the copyright holder pushes the issue the lower *limit* on
summery judgment is on the order of $100K US.

That said: I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on the internet. The
information is from my personal experience and you should confirm that with
a competent legal professional before taking any action in that regard.

On the assumption you are doing this for someone associated with Cornell you
can check with their legal department or the law school for guidance. Even
if the project is not associated with the university you would likely be
given a courtesy reading and explanation.

i agree 100% with linking back and give credits but since each company
is different so it better not to assume. The safe thing to do is send
emails to those 5 magazines and ask the question that you have just
asked here. See how they would want you to handle this. And print, save
the email thay way if anything goes wrong you have something to back
you up.

NotMe wrote:

"Dan" <dannieg4@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1161016446.937443.312430@f16g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...

|i agree 100% with linking back and give credits but since each company
| is different so it better not to assume. The safe thing to do is send
| emails to those 5 magazines and ask the question that you have just
| asked here. See how they would want you to handle this. And print, save
| the email thay way if anything goes wrong you have something to back
| you up.
|

Lacking specific permission having email proving you asked will not cut much
mustard if it gets to a legal p*ss n moaning match.

As for myself I prefer to use hard copy mail vs. email for such request as
it is perceived as being a bit more professional especially when dealing
with older staff.

I recall that my grandmother did not consider a typed letter an acceptable
form of personal communication. Ergo all my letters to her were typed first
then copied by hand to better quality stationary. Small point but one that
earned me a special mention in her notes to my mom. (to whom I sent the
typed copy as a back up measure)

That said it's my guess that the publishers will be accommodating especially
if there is a reverse link to their web sites.

An aside I'd recommend reformatting the article to use something other than
PDF.

Right on with the professional hard copy mail.

On Oct 16, 12:46 pm, "NotMe" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:

NotMe wrote:
Thanks very much for the advice, but what other format would you
recommend? I thought pdf was good way to go.

again i think that goes back to those people runs the magazines, if you
ask them, they WILL let you know exactly what they want and how they
want it.

On Oct 16, 2:38 pm, "smk17" <s...@cornell.edu> wrote:

"smk17" <smk17@cornell.edu> wrote in message
news:1161023906.280753.84680@b28g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com...

| > An aside I'd recommend reformatting the article to use something other
than
| > PDF.
|
| Thanks very much for the advice, but what other format would you
| recommend? I thought pdf was good way to go.

To my understanding PDF was designed primarily for high end printers.

We've been backed into web design by our clients and have over the course of
that education found that while many providers (and Adobe as well) push PDF
as the be all solution. The end user especially those accessing through the
internet complain about being forced to read via PDF often to the extent
that they flat refuse to down load, much less read content in PDF.

As such we use almost any other file format we can in an all out effort to
avoid the problems of PDF. We've found that on sites originally containing
PDF when converted to other formats (HTML seems to be the primary option)
the complaints have dropped to near nothing. On those without PDF from the
get go we've had minimal complaints and none about access to file data.

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:46:47 -0400, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

No, but if they give you permission back in an email, that email can
count as a legal and binding contract.

--

Onideus Mad Hatter
mhm ¹ x ¹
http://www.backwater-productions.net
http://www.backwater-productions.net/hatter-blog


Hatter Quotes
-------------
"You're only one of the best if you're striving to become one of the
best."

"I didn't make reality, Sunshine, I just verbally bitch slapped you
with it."

"I'm not a professional, I'm an artist."

"Your Usenet blinders are my best friend."

"Usenet Filters - Learn to shut yourself the fuck up!"

"Drugs killed Jesus you know...oh wait, no, that was the Jews, my
bad."

"There are clingy things in the grass...burrs 'n such...mmmm..."

"The more I learn the more I'm killing my idols."

"Is it wrong to incur and then use the hate ridden, vengeful stupidity
of complete strangers in random Usenet froups to further my art?"

"Freedom is only a concept, like race it's merely a social construct
that doesn't really exist outside of your ability to convince others
of its relevancy."

"Next time slow up a lil, then maybe you won't jump the gun and start
creamin yer panties before it's time to pop the champagne proper."

"Reality is directly proportionate to how creative you are."

"People are pretty fucking high on themselves if they think that
they're just born with a soul. *snicker*...yeah, like they're just
givin em out for free."

"Quible, quible said the Hare. Quite a lot of quibling...everywhere.
So the Hare took a long stare and decided at best, to leave the rest,
to their merry little mess."

"There's a difference between 'bad' and 'so earth shatteringly
horrible it makes the angels scream in terror as they violently rip
their heads off, their blood spraying into the faces of a thousand
sweet innocent horrified children, who will forever have the terrible
images burned into their tiny little minds'."

"How sad that you're such a poor judge of style that you can't even
properly gauge the artistic worth of your own efforts."

"Those who record history are those who control history."

"I am the living embodiment of hell itself in all its tormentive rage,
endless suffering, unfathomable pain and unending horror...but you
don't get sent to me...I come for you."

"Ideally in a fight I'd want a BGM-109A with a W80 250 kiloton
tactical thermonuclear fusion based war head."

"Tell me, would you describe yourself more as a process or a
function?"

"Apparently this group has got the market cornered on stupid.
Intelligence is down 137 points across the board and the forecast
indicates an increase in Webtv users."

"Is my .sig delimiter broken? Really? You're sure? Awww,
gee...that's too bad...for YOU!" `, )

smk17 wrote:

You're going to be dealing with a couple of possible problems here:
First, there is the copyright issue with the magazine. Second, there
is a possible copyright issue with the person who wrote the article
(they may very well own separate publication rights outside of the
rights of the magazine).

Many publications offer reprint rights for just the sort of thing your
client wishes to do. You'll have to contact them and find out what
they'll charge. They may even supply you with the article in their
approved format (most likely a PDF).

However, having said the above, this is stuff your client should have
taken care of before attempting to get you to do this work. So, charge
accordingly for your time to contact all of these people -- and any
reprint fees should be on his dime, not yours.

Regarding your liability, that's tricky since your client has already
admitted to you that he doesn't own the rights to do this. It depends
on what your contract says (you ARE working with a contract, right???).
Our contract states that the client is responsible for securing the
rights to all materials provided to us and that by signing, they agree
that we are to be held harmless of all liability (and furthermore, they
are responsible for any court / attorney fees / judgements that arise
due to ownership dispute of materials they provide). If you want a
good sample of releasing yourself from liability (though rather wordy),
take a look at FedEx Kinko's Terms of Use:
http://www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/...e.html/?link=5

-- Robert