The Picture of Mine which Appeared in Brunch (epaper here) after Cropping out (c) Mridula D that you can see at the Bottom Left
Update 17 (20/12/2009): From the issue of Brunch of 20/12/2009- In the Brunch issue of 6th December, we published a picture of a cup of coffee by Mridula Dwivedi without giving her due credit for the same. We apologise for the mistake.
I consider the matter closed now. I think both the parties will not like to see a cup of coffee for a long period of time!
Update 16 (18/12/2009): I am expecting to see the correction on Sunday (20/12/2009) maybe in 8 font size!
But even then I am looking forward to it.
Update 15 (15/12/2009): If you see update 6 I had used Ask Vir page to ask Mr. Sanghvi’s opinion on this issue. To my surprise Mr. Sanghvi has replied. And he considers it a legal issue between me and Hindustan Times and hence does not want to get involved.
Update 14 (13/12/2009): On second thoughts let me see the corrections in print and then I would make this post un-sticky. I do not like to see this post first thing on my blog but then if I have come this far, a few more days are not going to hurt.
Update 13: (12/12/2009) I went and met the editor. Things have been discussed to my satisfaction completely. I think they will get implemented too. By Monday I will make this post unsticky. Thank you all for your support.
Update 12: (11/12/2009) I am meeting a Brunch representative tomorrow. I am going with an open mind but with open options too. I will put an update as soon as possible after it.
Update 11: (11/12/2009) If I get a phone call from their side I would try my best to meet them tomorrow. I have to say for the editor that when I was asking a lot of questions, she gave me her cell number. I have given her mine, so that she could call at her convenience. After all, her schedule could be more unpredictable than mine. If only they had treated me this way when the incident started. Even now there is feet dragging (at least it feels like that to me) but slightly better communication than before.
But by no means I am anxious to settle on any terms. I am quite prepared to make this long drawn unless I feel I am treated fairly.
Update 10: (10/12/2009) Anyone who knows how media corrects their mistakes in press when they are not unintentional? Any examples?
Update 9: (9/12/2009, night) In a surprise move in her most recent mail the editor of Brunch asks to meet me! I am still going to be very careful. And more so, I commute so much that I have to carefully think which day to meet.
Added a little later- I have not responded to that email yet but I will for sure do. I need to sleep over the matter and I think I have earned it. If this was the first response my delay might look like rude but after all this I need to take time.
Update 8: (9/12/2009, evening) I heard from Brunch again after @sidin from twitter intervened. But the higher ups still want to say in the correction at Brunch (on 13th) that the mistake was unintentional. So if you see that in Brunch don’t believe it. They cropped out (c) Mridula D from this image.
Then they want to pay me purchase rates for the photo! Funny as if they had purchased it. I have rejected both the offers.
Now this is going to be long drawn. I am going to start blogging normally and the posts will appear below this post. Have some patience with me.
I have to figure out what is a good way to fight out in the long run, but I am going to do that for sure.
You will find a lot more on this at @mridulad on Twitter.
Update 7 (9/12/2009): I am making this post sticky till 20 December 2010. Let us see who blinks first.
Update 6 (9/12/2009) Mr. Vir Sanghvi has a Ask Vir page on his website. I typed this rather long question relating to plagiarized photo above (but I have very sincere doubts of it has any meaning for Brunch/HT) only to be told at the end that I can use only 750 characters. Well my question within 750 characters is-
Brunch plagiarized a picture mine on December 6, 2009. When I wrote to the Brunch editor, Poonam Saxena she agreed that the picture is mine. The picture had a clear (c) Mridula D with it which was cropped out by Brunch. She says it is an “inadvertent mistake and I do apologise for that.” How can cropping out (c) Mridula D be inadvertent? I am told that the penalty can be in the range of 2.5 lakhs as compensation and 4 months in jail. And she is not even willing to discuss the compensation amount with me http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/2009/12/picture-of-mine-in-brunch-but-without.html I am using @virsanghvi on every tweet on this issue. I wonder if the social media clues would get noticed at HT or not.
Obviously the question is being sent to admin for approval! I am sure he never gets to see it, much less address it.
Update 5 (9/12/2009): Search for @virsanghvi at Twitter. But then he follows no one and maybe he uses it as a broadcast medium only and never even searches for @virsanghvi!
Update 4: (8/12/2009) I have started using @virsanghvi at Twitter let us see if he has time to follow a case of plagiarism of his Brunch or if he is too busy to bother with trivial things like plagiarism. And as I said if need be
I will continue for an year or whatever it takes to get adequate acknowledgement and compensation.
I will continue for an year or whatever it takes to get adequate acknowledgement and compensation.
Update 3: (8/12/2009) I got a mail from the editor today evening asking for my postal address as they wish to send compensation. The only problem is they have not discussed the amount of peanuts they wish to send me. And I am not willing to negotiate till they ask my price. They make me feel like I am in the wrong.
Update 2: (8/12/2009) I was at Twitter but just merely so. Today I realized how fast things spread there!
Update 1: (8/12/2009) Nothing new to report for today morning! I hope they are not treating the matter as closed.
Original Post
You can look at the same image in Brunch (E-paper here) Hindustan Times Sunday (December 6, 2009) Supplement without any credit to me and image has been cropped to take out my copyright. I am not amused. I had posted this image originally here.
On Sunday we get a lot of newspapers. Hindustan Times is one of them. I was flipping through Brunch and then I had a feeling of Deja Vu. I started laughing and said the same thing to Sesha- this is my picture. This time he didn’t tell me it could be ia generic photograph. If you hold a copy of the Brunch you would find that the foam in the coffee is pixel by pixel same, the image above and the image on page 12 of Brunch of December 6, 2009.
I have written to the author of the column. And I got a reply from her, as expected she said she has no role in selection of pictures.
I have written to the editor of Brunch Ms. Poonam Saxena now. By evening she replied agreeing that there has been a mistake because copyright issues were not clear and they are willing to issue a correction and talk about compensation. I strongly disagree.
But I strongly disagree with the statement that copyright issue was not clearly mentioned. Google search is not anything in itself, it lists images posted by others and carries a notice next to it saying “images may be subject to copyright.” Secondly of you click on my image it carries additional copyright (c) Mridula D.I started putting (c) Mridula D after one of my other images was picked up by an in-flight magazine with a credit to someone else. What more clarity is needed?
So I do not agree that the behavior was unintentional. Let us see how this pans out in the end. I am much more incensed this time than I was when it happened for the first time with the in flight magazine.
In the meanwhile I am making this post sticky.
P.S. The picture above mine in the article (of sarson ka saag) can be found at Flickr. I hope Ravi has been luckier than me and his picture has been used with permission.
PPS. Mint (Under Hindustan Times Umbrella) had done an article on plagiarism earlier.
Original Post Ends Here
Other cases of Hindustan Times Plagiarism of Blogger Pictures.
Supersam’s photo in Hindustan Times without his permission.
Saad’s Picuture in Hindustan Times without his permission.
Another of Saad’s pictures in Hindustan Times without his permission.
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I saw the post. I am not at all surprised by this. HT is notorious for this kind of malpractices. Last year I faced a similar problem when one day I discovered my photo on their Calcutta edition. There was no mention of the photographer though. It is quite unfortunate that an old newspaper house have such a scant regard for the copyright. You can witness my bad luck by visiting my photo album at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pritam2k7/3187597332/
Hey Guys,We can now disable the Right clicks on our blog posts using a script!I have disabled it on all my blogs and have also blogged about it.Check this link!http://swathipradeep-bloggerhacks.blogspot.com/2009/12/disable-right-clicks-on-your-blog-posts.htmlRegards,Swathi Pradeephttp://swathi-pradeep.blogspot.com
Rajeev, my best wishes to you too for a wonderful 2010.I loved the copyright notice at the link but the trouble is that people find my pictures through Google search and that notice would not come as it would not be on the picture. Maybe I could do something like that on the picture itself.
Hi Mridula,Best Wishes for a very happy and happening 2010.Glad that this issue was resolved to your satisfaction. Was reminded of this when i saw the copyright on this page – very clear and not obtrusive too. http://www.cricinfo.com/decadereview2009/content/gallery/436097.html
Anonymous this was the second time it happened to me hence this anger and resolve. The first time around I was quite clueless and I agreed with a correction and a little higher than purchase price. Not twice! Thank you for your comment.
on behalf of all people everywhere who have been plagiarised and all people who have worked for the indian newspaper industry and been treated like horse$hit i want to say thank you for sticking it out and making this a fight and winning! you were clearly in the right and they were in the wrong, and it was healing to see the issue play out as such. good on you for making it that way.
Thank you Rocksea.Sue, thanks I agree it was small but then as you say it was there!
Saw the retraction. I don't think it could possibly have been in smaller type but hey, it's there.
Well done, you.
great! mridula, happy for you
Tarun thank you for the comment and happy mugging again.Abhineet, I do not wish to get into a debate about my smartness or the lack of it. Thanks for stopping by.
..once you're a little smart you can't help getting smarter as each day goes by… n its not such a bad thing
after all, given you're comfy with it and it's keeping you comfy in this smart world.. ..i myself am sometimes not ( ..
Was busy with mugging when it occurred to me that It was Sunday so I checked out the brunch…Congrats…for sticking up, perhaps it was the right thing to do.Now there is a saying in Punjabi "to make a sweet lassi bitter" you surely made their coffee bitter. So much fighting over a heart.:)Back to Mugging
VS you were right, the font looks bigger than 8 for sure.Ramesh I had been to Mumbai only once 10 years ago!Abhineet, I agree with you, only anyone who know me will not call me smart, straight forward yes, but not really smart.
The point I'd like to make Mridula is this.. you're smart and the people you're in correspondence with regarding this matter are smart..but somewhere in this is an unsmart person who must have picked your picture from the internet.. had to meet his deadlines for the day.. had been made to sign contracts governing copyright laws before he was put on the job.. however that was just something which the smart guys had made him do so they could stay clear of trouble.. so my point is – the smart talk, the smart deal, the smart grieve.. n its all just a game they're good at… my heart goes to the unsmart guy out there working in offices..n elsewhere.. my heart goes out to him..
hi M..best wishes..:) thanks 4 the invite…ok u come to mumbai..tea will be on me..hehe:0
Some optimism please Mridula. Maybe they will use a bigger font, maybe they will put you on their ethics board, maybe they will gift you a whole year supply of coffee…so many options.
Chitra thanks for your support and I hopped over your blog finally.SG I think we have sealed it over a handshake but they have not given me any reason to go back on my words.Janit, many thanks for stopping by. Maybe Mr. Sanghvi is suggesting the way out, next time it should be made a legal issue.Flyingstars you take beautiful pictures! I know it is even more difficult to fight the random lifts on the web. I am going to make the watermark more prominent and see how it goes.
Hmmmm, Mridula…a bit late but I can really feel what have you been going through, as I have also been through phase quite a few time and for me it has mainly been from bloggers and the online users and at points I had also to stop blogging or remove the posts which were really close to my heart…On of my very popular travel blogs is totally de-activated now due to this ever-increasing menace and really became very choosy these days while posting something on my blogs……I really used to feel dejected and It's as if I'm used to it now…so many of my posts are copied and used in websites and forums without my permission, knowledge and accreditation…I just really can sigh that even these big media houses can stoop so low…I have come across blogs plagiarism of another largest selling national newspaper so many times….they are just doing it again and again…sigh:(!
@ anonymous,why do you read/interpret what i never wrote? did i ever tell that "it's OK to violate copyright for personal purposes"? surprised??! i was refering to the graveness of the issue on relative terms. if we consider all crimes in the world on the same status, we will all be in prison for sure.
I have asked Mr Vir Sanghvi who has an opinion about everything from Pakistani politics to creation of states in India if he has any opinion about plagiarism in Indian media and am awaiting his answer. Its surprising that the man doesnt even accept that its a mistake and forwards us to his legal department as if the newspaper were none of his concern. In India, no one is accountable, except maybe God.
If the non disclosure clause is not in writing, it is not worth anything.
Following you!
Hi Mridula,I landed here via Anu's blog. I liked the way you are standing up for your rights. Great going!I went thru' few of your posts and just wanted to tell you I do blog on temples. Do visit my blog when you find time and encourage me.
Sg unfortunately I have met the editor and I would not say we went as far ahead as non disclosure but she did request not to disclose in public apart from the general nature,Anonymous, we had a long talk and I not asked for 1 lakh in the first place itself! In India the legal minimum is 50K.
so how did HT treat u faily? did they pay u 1 lakh cash for it?
I hope you have not agreed to anything yet. I want you to consider this also in your discussions with them. They may agree with whatever you want but will want to put a "non disclosure clause". This means you cannot talk or write or discuss about the agreement between the two of you. Please beware.
Julia many thanks for the effort and it is not the first time HT was accused of this. See the other links on my post! They will remain slient. Say thank you to John from my side.Ramesh many thank for your support and making it a hundred.SG the other picture that I mentioned in my post, the correction was on the content page but yes someone else had to point it out to me, it was in such a small font that on my own I could not even locate it! I think the same might happen in my case! But let us see.Rocksea, thanks for stating your point and engaging with Anonymous.Anonymous, no, personal use is exactly the same as violating the copyright for profit. Happy now?Now do I have a second Anonymous? Thank you fo pointing out that what HT did was infringement but I went to meet the editor and we have agreed in principle on a course of action. As soon as it gets implemented I will make this post unsticky and maybe close the comments but not till the correction is made. Tarun tu mug le bhai, tere exams hain. Come here only when you are thoroughly tired of mugging. But many thanks for engaging with Anonymous. Some days (like today) I feel too tired.
@ Anonymous….I don't require copyright for dummies…I work on that Copyright Act, 1957 and TRIPs Agreement quite often…Secondly on photographs copyright subsists from date it is published for that year and then for next 60 yrs counted from the calender year….And you were making a story out of yourself here
I across this post entirely by accident and although I haven't read this closely, I was a little surprised to see that you keep referring to this as plagiarism. True, it is plagiarism. More pertinently, it is copyright infringment — copyright subsists in a work from the moment it is fixed in tangible form. For a photo, that would mean "from the moment the photo is taken". A copyright notice is not necessary to acquire copyright, neither is any form of licence. Using a copyrighted image without permission from its owner is infringement. End of story.And in India, infringement is both a civil and criminal offence.There's a copyright 101 here if you're interested. http://www.takingitglobal.org/images/resources/tool/docs/1611.pdf
@ AnonymousVoltaire once had "I may not agree with what you say, but I will till my death will protect your right to say"in your first comment you tried to deny that..A basic human rightAnd then you are commenting (without name and I am surprised what fears that you have) preaching ethics while there is a battle going on….I might agree with you, but that doesn't deny me or any of my fellow commentators here our right to say..and you are hell bent in proving us wrong by even though you are tending to get argumentative. IPRs are violated everyday, but why don't those people take action…because they usually get revenue and readership and recognition..And U are trying to sidestepping the raised by other bloggers…A commercial media giant, with lawyers on payroll can afford "Picking" up others work without giving them credit? Then comes the question of conduct..When you have a question in hand you don't tend to be philosophical you try to solve it and make it sure that it doesn't gets repeated either by other on your or by you on other@ Mridula, Sorry for taking this Guy/gal again..Was not thinking of posting but his/her comments were……
@rockseaOh, I suppose it's OK for you to violate copyright for personal purposes.
@ anonymous,HT pubished Mridula's photograph, without credits,on a "commercial" newspaper. The content of the news, articles, photographscarry a price. This is far different from the instances cited by you. It was not for personal use, not even for free-educational purposes.
I personally feel how offended you are. I am of Indian origin but brought up in USA almost my entire life. Copyright violations and Patent violations are so rampant in some countries. Yes, they say they will issue a correction. You know where that will be? It will be in the lower portion, in a very small unreadable letters, on page 84.
SG you were right in was in a small font in the table of contents but I could at least get some compensation.
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