# The web is public domain? Thanks for the info, Cooks Source magazine! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487 "2010-11-04T17:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/61 "2010-11-05T01:59:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One of my favorites is Harley-Davidson, which trademarked the distinctive sound of its motorcycle engines. _potato-potato-potato-potato-potato-potato_ ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/62 "2010-11-05T02:04:40Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > _potato-potato-potato-potato-potato-potato_ Japanese sport bike. Yaaaaaaam yam yam yam yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/63 "2010-11-05T02:25:06Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > When I looked earlier at the magazine’s site, not FB, there was contact information on it. ph#, email, and mailing address. For some reason those are all missing now. > > And IIRC, there were four selections on the menu bar. I’ll have to check the cache at work tomorrow to see what’s missing. > > [Cooks Source site](http://cookssource.com/index.html) > > ETA: > > Paula Deen, Food Network, Disney… > > Pretty sure that wasn’t the trifecta she was looking for.. Typing in “cache:cookssource.com” into Google, and I get a site from earlier in the day with the phone number and address, but I only have two menu bars on top. I checked [archive.org](http://archive.org), but apparently the site is set not to allow archiving. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/64 "2010-11-05T02:53:19Z")
It’s all still batshit insane on the Facebook front. I don’t want to be the one to say it, but anyone out there with real life contact info might want to contact the local P.D. for a wellness check. I don’t want to hear about any purple lifeless legs swinging back and forth in front of the abandoned laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/65 "2010-11-05T03:52:31Z")
Further information on Harley-Davidson’s trademark. I found an article that says there are twenty-three sounds that have been filed as trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Among them are NBC’s three-tone chime and the MGM lion’s roar. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/66 "2010-11-05T09:14:24Z")
According to the pic of a Cook’s Source cover in **spark240** ’s link, the magazine itself is free. I assume they gain “profit” from selling ads? If not, does this change anything? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/67 "2010-11-05T09:18:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Typing in “cache:cookssource.com” into Google, and I get a site from earlier in the day with the phone number and address, but I only have two menu bars on top. I checked [archive.org](http://archive.org), but apparently the site is set not to allow archiving. Even if it weren’t, [archive.org](http://archive.org) is way behind even it’s own schedule of releasing stuff 6 months after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/68 "2010-11-05T09:48:26Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > According to the pic of a Cook’s Source cover in **spark240** ’s link, the magazine itself is free. I assume they gain “profit” from selling ads? If not, does this change anything? They do indeed make money from ads. There are plenty of these where I live… a local magazine with various lifestyle articles, interspaced with adverts from local firms. The magazines are placed for free in shops and businesses, and the revenue comes from the advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/69 "2010-11-05T10:23:35Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Well she has repsonded on Facebook: > _Reprinted without persmission_ Wait, is she actually egging the \*Internet \*on ?! I swear, some people, they’s just too daft to live. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/70 "2010-11-05T11:09:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I don’t think it’s really the same situation. Monica Gaudino posted that article on her website free for anyone to read and use. She wasn’t charging people to look at it or forbidding them from using her recipes. What Cook Source did was copy something being offered for free and sell it for a profit. > > That isn’t much like copying music that is either for sale or just [legally unavailable](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5139522) and passing out copies for free. Two different phenomena. > > And the fact that Monica Gaudino wasn’t forbidding others from using her recipes or putting out a crippled version guts one of the most persuasive justifications for illegal copying. This doesn’t make any sense. You seem to be saying that if an author didn’t charge and didn’t forbid others from using a text, then it’s _not_ okay to copy it without her permission, meanwhile, if a publisher does charge and does forbid others from using a text, it _is_ okay to copy without their permission. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/71 "2010-11-05T11:10:46Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I highly doubt you’ll find anyone on this forum who legitimately claims that it’s okay to download someone else’s music, claim it as your own, and sell it to other people. They didn’t claim it as their own. They named her as the author. From the OP’s link: “However, some basic Google-fu lead me to find them online and on Facebook. In fact, after looking at the Cooks Source Facebook page, I found the article **with my name on it** on on “Page 10” of the Cooks Source Pumpkin fest issue.” Bolding mine. I don’t usually weigh in on the copywrite violation threads because I don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. But I think the anti-copywrite-violating folks have a real point here. If what this magazine did isn’t okay, then anyone who makes copyrighted music available in any venue which also contains ads, without the copyright holder’s permission, is also in the wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/72 "2010-11-05T11:11:16Z")
Disclaimer: the following is not an official statement from the USPTO. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One of my favorites is Harley-Davidson, which trademarked the distinctive sound of its motorcycle engines. They applied for a trademark (serial #74485223) but it was rejected. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/73 "2010-11-05T11:48:58Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > This doesn’t make any sense. You seem to be saying that if an author didn’t charge and didn’t forbid others from using a text, then it’s _not_ okay to copy it without her permission, meanwhile, if a publisher does charge and does forbid others from using a text, it _is_ okay to copy without their permission. What he’s saying is that it’s not the same as downloading music. When you download music, you are taking something that is for sale, and copying it for your personal use. In this case, the company is taking something that is freely available (but copyrighted) and reprinting it for sale, without compensating the author. In digital music terms, it’s like taking a free copy of a song from a band’s website, putting it on a compilation CD and selling it, without telling the band. Yes, it’s still a form of copyright violation, but the character of the act is entirely different. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/74 "2010-11-05T11:53:10Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > No, you don’t understand! Having been “an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine” she knows about copyright laws!!1111! And, as I understand it, this sort of thing happens everyday on college campuses. As everyone knows, everything done on college campuses is totally legal. Just don’t search my dorm room, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/75 "2010-11-05T12:21:11Z")
Heh. An editor, huh? “[A]n editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine,” no less. Interesting that the only hits I get for “Housitonic Home” are this very quote. I wonder if she meant Hous **a** tonic Home, which seems to exist normally on the web in several forms, or if there really was a “Housitonic Home” publication that’s subsequently been erased from the Internet in a Stalin-esque purge? What kind of editor misspells the name of her own publication? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/76 "2010-11-05T13:28:39Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Yes, it’s still a form of copyright violation, but the character of the act is entirely different. Actually it’s exactly the same. In both cases you’re making unauthorized copies and deriving benefit without whatever compensation the owner seeks. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/77 "2010-11-05T13:47:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Typing in “cache:cookssource.com” into Google, and I get a site from earlier in the day with the phone number and address, but I only have two menu bars on top. I checked [archive.org](http://archive.org), but apparently the site is set not to allow archiving. There are two links missing from the current version of the site. ‘About’ and ‘Contact Us’. I didn’t visit those links while I was there so I don’t have them in my cache. And the pages that were linked to have been moved or deleted. I guess we’ll just have to create our own ‘About’ page for her. > [@](#): > > Stealing the best of other peoples work and mocking them for complaining about it. The whiny little bitches should be grateful. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/78 "2010-11-05T13:59:39Z")
Too late for an edit, but Google cache still has the About. [About](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Acookssource.com%2Fabout.html&rls=com.microsoft:*&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1) ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/79 "2010-11-05T14:16:09Z")
The facebook “like” count on Cook source was 1000 yesterday. It’s over 3000 this morning. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487/80 "2010-11-05T14:35:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The Smithsonian Magazine once, through an honest error, used two of my photos that I posted on a local food message board in an online article of theirs–not even their print version. I sent them a polite letter asking them to take it down or, if they’d like web usage rights, that I’d be willing to sell it to them for $400. To my surprise, they actually paid me the four hundred bucks. Really? I’m a sap then ☹ They have published 2 of my photos on their online site and I let them do it for free. I should have asked for cash - it never occurred to me. \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-web-is-public-domain-thanks-for-the-info-cooks-source-magazine/559487.md?page=5)