Has Anyone Had Stolen Hub Published in a Print Magazine? What to do?

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   agilitymachposted 8 years ago

   I just found that one of my Hubs was stolen in June 2014 and published in a magazine.  I wouldn't have found out about it except that they have now put their magazine on-line.  It was stolen by a slick looking magazine in Australia, and I am from the US.  I told them if it wasn't removed off of the web, i would file a DMCA complaint, and I also asked for $250, which is what I get for my dog agility articles when published in print.
   
   Has anyone else had their stuff stolen and actually published in a print magazine?  What did you do?

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      PegCole17posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry this happened to you. My work was stolen and used in a travel advertisement but it was online. I contacted the host and filed a DMCA. I was pleased when they responded and took the copy down.
      
      You are wise to send them an invoice. I hope you send them a written complaint by certified mail along with a bill for use of your material.
      
      BTW, how did you find the copy?

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      If they don't take it off line, contact Google.  They can stop all adsense payments and remove the article if you can show proof that you wrote it.  Since they're in Australia, they may not be subject to DMCAs, but sending one is worth a try.

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      psycheskinnerposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Invoice them whether they take it offline or not, their other option is being publicly exposed as dishonest.

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      relacheposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      DMCA complaints only work under US law.  Don't be surprised if your international thieves are perfectly aware of this.

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         agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Poo.  That is a bummer to hear.  I had hoped it was kind of a universal thing that Google agreed to do.  I haven't heard anything back from them.

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         lisavollrathposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         DMCA complaints also work if their hosting company is in the US, or if their servers are in the US.

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   agilitymachposted 8 years ago

   I haven't heard from them yet, but I know they got my email.  Just four minutes after sending it, someone from Sydney, Australia popped into that specific article to read it, according to Google Analytics.  After that, I had several hits from Sydney on that article, and my Facebook Fan Page is getting strange stats too.  I think they are researching it.  I gave them five business days to respond, so I shall see what's up. 
   
   Today if I have time, I may do research to see who actually publishes this weekly magazine.  It does appear to be a publishing "group," so they should know better.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Who is it, I might be able to find out for you since I'm an Aussie.

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         agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         ey are the RedHouse Media Group in Baulkham Hills BC.  The weekly magazine is Homes Guide, which if they are like in the US, it would be a free magazine or newspaper type thingy that you can pick up and read at restaurants, doctor offices, etc.  My article is in this issue:  https://issuu.com/redhousegroup/docs/hg … 0907webmag
         
         If you know of anything, I'd appreciate it!!  They haven't contacted me yet.

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            theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Tweets & Facebook work for me. There's nothing they hate more than having their thievery exposed for all to see.
            
            My work was stolen by a prominent British charity - The National Trust (preserves stately homes and such). I sent them an invoice for £250 and they paid up immediately. To be fair, it was some volunteer who 'wrote' an article for them.

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               agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Social media!!  Great idea!!

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            This is a magazine that's printed and distributed to real estate agents.  Most of the content is homes for sale, with a few articles thrown in to make it look like a "proper" magazine.
            
            I've always thought the articles in those magazines are sourced from the internet, sounds like I was right!
            
            I wouldn't wait for their response, just send them your invoice (try to make it look as official as possible).  Also say that unless it's paid within 30 days, you will file a copyright violation notice with Google, which will result in the offending online magazine being banned from Google search engine results.
            
            I wouldn't worry about the print version, as it's a short-lived thing.  Like I said, nine-tenths of the magazine is made up of ads for houses, so it has a very short shelf life (a new one gets issued each month) and it's not the kind of thing people would keep copies of.

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               agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               In the US, the Homes Guides are often printed by the local newspapers.  I take it this one isn't.  That is good to know.  They should know better than to go stealing content off of the internet!!!  I will give them five days to respond and then do as you suggest.  I may even call.

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            lisavollrathposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Issuu is based in the US. You can have their digital issue quarantined:
            http://help.issuu.com/hc/en-us/articles … uarantines

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   corinnposted 8 years ago

   Wow!  Lately, I have seen several posts (on this site) about articles being stolen.  How are people finding their articles in these random publications?  I clicked on a link, that someone posted, to see if any of my articles were on there, but the link did not work.  It is definitely unfortunate when the thievery is coming from another country, as copyright laws vary.

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      agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I found this stolen work by  going to "copied Hubs" on my account page.  HubPages does a nifty search for you and posts any of your Hubs they find stolen there.  Then they give you instructions on how to file a DMCA Take Down Notification.  It's pretty slick as we used to have to do manual Google searches on our Hubs ourselves.  Google also has a place where you can sign up your work to be notified when Google spiders find it stolen.  I can't rememer how to access that anymore though.

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4. 95

   agilitymachposted 8 years ago

   For those who have helped me and are still following the thread, here is an update.  I gave RedHouse Publishing Group five days to take down the stolen content.  They didn't, so I filed a DMCA Take Down Complaint with their host server.  The good news is that their host server (Issuu) publishes magazines on-line, and they are very strict about copyright rules.  They also are in the US, so the DMCA rules apply.  Within hours, the stolen content was removed, and I got a nice email from the host server company saying they had removed the content.  They have a cute page up on those links now.  https://issuu.com/redhousegroup/docs/hg … 0907webmag
   
   So kudos to Issuu for their fast work!!!  Boo on RedHouse for not responding quickly.  RedHouse did respond yesterday after I wrote them to tell them I had filed the DMCA complaint with their server.  They said that "legal" was looking into it.  I will now write RedHouse and tell them Issuu took the stolen content down, but that they still owe me $500 for each printing of my stolen article.
   
   Thanks to all of you for your help!!  Issuu rocks.

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      Rortedposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Greetings from Australia! A google search on RedHouse Media Group led me to your post, and I may be able to shed some more light on things for you.
      Homesguide is a Real Estate Magazine published by Redhouse Media Group, which is owned and run by former bankrupt Michael Canty, and his currently bankrupt daughter Jess Greig-Canty.
      Homesguide is only published in small numbers and distributed thru real estate agents and of course the digital edition where you found your stolen content.
      Redhouse do not have a "legal dept" - they are only the father and daughter. All staff left when the company was last wound up and are owed many thousands in unpaid wages and entitlements. The Cantys do however spend a lot of time in court, being chased by creditors, schools chasing outstanding school fees, the Australian Tax Office, former employees, printers and of course the Australian Securities and Investment Commission who have fined them for numerous breaches
      http://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-cen … l-reports/
      .They did have an office, listed on their website at Baulkham Hills, however were evicted for non payment of rent in 2014. They now work out of their rented home at 8 Karalee Rd Galston NSW 2159.
      Their phone number of 02 9659 5246 is answered by a 3rd party reception service so they will never return your calls. However they can be contacted directly on the following numbers :-
      Jess Greig-Canty +61 427 051 000
      Michael Canty +61 418 277 041
      or +61 419 541 257.
      I highly doubt you will ever see a cent from them, however you may like to phone them to remind them of the monies they owe you for stealing your content.
      It is not right that a rogue can steal your content, and even worse that they offer no apology for doing so. I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

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         agilitymachposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         That is very interesting.  Actually, the website host provider, Issu.com, was wonderful.  They immediately remove the content when I pointed out that it was stolen.  They were uber responsive and ethical.  As for RedHouse Media Group, it's pretty obvious they have bigger problems than the theft of online content, but if they are in as much trouble as you indicate, it explains why they wouldn't think twice about stealing someone's online work. It looks like they have enough legal battles, and I suppose in many cases, you reap what you sow.  Thanks for the background info.

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            Rortedposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            You're most welcome. You should pursue them though, if not for yourself to save the next poor writer who had their work stolen by them. It is up to people like you to be brave enough to stand up to these bullies/thieves in order to deter these rogues from continuing. People like you can make a difference.

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