Michael Yon is suing the French magazine Shock for stealing his copyrighted photo for the cover of Shock’s recent issue comparing Iraq to Vietnam. [Can't they think of something fresher than that?-ed. Evidently not.] This is, of course, nothing less than theft and I hope Yon succeeds in his suit. In fact, I hope this one goes to trial and Shock is put out of business as an example to other publications who would consider stealing someone’s intellectual porperty. If I were Shock’s owners – HFM, also the owners of American Photo, Boating, Car and Driver, Cycle World, ELLE and Metropolitan Home, among many other reputable publications – I would be very anxious to disassociate myself from these thugs at Shock. And as as a former president of the West Coast branch of PEN, I call upon the international writers’ organization to support Yon in his suit. It affects us all.
UPDATE: HFM also owns Hachette Photos. In this case, sauce for the goose is obviously not sauce for the gander.
Yep, not surprising that its a French magazine pulling that kind of stunt. This will probably spend years in court. What needs to happen is it immediately goes to court. The judge asks HFM “Do you have any proof, written or otherwise, that you have permission to use Michael Yon’s photograph?” If they don’t, the the judge transfers ownership of Shock magazine to Michael Yon. Period. End of discussion. This would take about a minute and a half. The judge’s next statement would be “Next case.”
But the world doesn’t work that way. It’s a shame. And I think that if international, or French law actually protects Michael Yon’s intellectual property that it will be a miracle, IMHO.