[tsk1979]

Who is this guy? Okay, so if I make a tweet with @sardesairajdeep, he will be notified?

[rajeshsundaram]

Now.. I've decided not to subscribe the OD magazine.

Also posted this thread in my FB wall.

[tsk1979]

I have made the tweet mentioning sardesai , hopefully, some network 18 head honcho will get to take a look at it.
Again thats for your support and suggestions

[amtak]

Rajdeep is one of the board members of TV 18 and a well respected journalist.

Thanks!

[New.Novice]

Ok, am no expert but here are my two cents.

1. I dont think OP has any chance of nailing down Goodyear here. They can not take responsibility of some magzine publishing someone uses their tyres. They have no responsibility to prove or disprove that. OD has to get business from them and they will not go against them to say Goodyear paid them to say that. Come to think of it, will any automobile magzine will ever go against the people who give them advertisements? Also, is goodyear responsible for any claim made by anyone at any forum without their "official" endorsement?

2. Worst case scenario here, can't OD file a case against OP to defame them? They can take a stand that they were "proved" guilty and malligned publically after a campaign was launched against them without them being given an opportunity to clarify their stand. And they can very well do that (irrespective of how sure they are to lose it in the end) citing it was not a deliberate act and even they were kept in the dark by the "person" who sent them this article and OP started this campaign before notifying them even once.

I thought let someone play devil's advocate here

[mayankk]

I think they are waiting to see if this dies down on its own.
So far, all they've seen is some clamouring on TBHP and posts(which they delete) on facebook.
It seems a legal recourse, first strike is called for.

[Axe77]

If we feel strongly enough about this its easy to spread around. I still think reputation tarred is more damaging than any compensation.

For instance, as many of you as possible could post this link on your own facebook page as someone suggested earlier.

Separately I think there is some sort of body of standards for both advertising as well as publishers. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to write to them explaining the situation and see if they can bring the concerned parties to the table so someone from OD is at least forced to hear out the matter (since OD is ignoring the OP's efforts to discuss this).

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by New.Novice

Ok, am no expert but here are my two cents.

1. I dont think OP has any chance of nailing down Goodyear here. They can not take responsibility of some magzine publishing someone uses their tyres. They have no responsibility to prove or disprove that. OD has to get business from them and they will not go against them to say Goodyear paid them to say that. Come to think of it, will any automobile magzine will ever go against the people who give them advertisements? Also, is goodyear responsible for any claim made by anyone at any forum without their "official" endorsement?

It was a goodyear advertisement. They put an advertisement in a magazine implying I use goodyear tires.
Look at this. Imagine <ABC soft drink company> writes an advertorial supposedly written by Mr XYZ actor which has a line. I drink ABC and it helps me perform better. Who is to nail here? The magazine which printed the advert, or the company which is using Mr XYZ to endorse a product without his permission.

2. Worst case scenario here, can't OD file a case against OP to defame them? They can take a stand that they were "proved" guilty and malligned publically after a campaign was launched against them without them being given an opportunity to clarify their stand. And they can very well do that (irrespective of how sure they are to lose it in the end) citing it was not a deliberate act and even they were kept in the dark by the "person" who sent them this article and OP started this campaign before notifying them even once.

I thought let someone play devil's advocate here

No, there is not case there. They cannot falsify facts. If I said something like. Mr. ABC who is editor of XYZ magazine is a mafia don and uses stolen articles to fund his mafia empire, then they can sue me. But I have not said anything like that. I have just posted facts about
1. Lifting of my log and pictures
2. Using me for brand endorsement of a product without my consent.

Believe me, I have taken legal opinion on this, and I am in the clean.

As for this dying down, do not worry, nothing is dying down. However such things take time. As soon as I have a significant update to give, I will post here

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

No, there is not case there. They cannot falsify facts. If I said something like. Mr. ABC who is editor of XYZ magazine is a mafia don and uses stolen articles to fund his mafia empire, then they can sue me. But I have not said anything like that. I have just posted facts about
1. Lifting of my log and pictures
2. Using me for brand endorsement of a product without my consent.

Believe me, I have taken legal opinion on this, and I am in the clean.

Typically, first cut Legal Opinion will always come to you in a way that gives you a lot of confidence; in fact a bit of over-confidence. That's what most Lawyers typically do to win client's trust (no offenses meant to anyone). They almost always, reserve the surprises for later. So, please tread diligently.

There is a very thin line between discussing your plight on a public forum and ending up doing something that can amount to defamation. You have laid the wrong-doing (Stating Facts), asked for guidance (Seeking Advice)... So far, so good; but, debating the mechanics of the wrong-doing and any statements from you against OD's and Goodyear's practices, or any leading questions that shape public opinion vis-a-vis the same, can be arguably construed as an attempt to defame.

If the matter is going sub-judice you may want to consider a stop to discussing this on a public forum.

All the best.

[New.Novice]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

It was a goodyear advertisement. They put an advertisement in a magazine implying I use goodyear tires.

Sorry, I didnt know it was an advert. I thought the article somewhere mentioned that u use a goodyear tire. In this case, yes you are right in what you said.

Originally Posted by roy_libran

If the matter is going sub-judice you may want to consider a stop to discussing this on a public forum.

All the best.

This is precisely what I meant. Couldn't have said it better.

[SirAlec]

Originally Posted by amtak

Rajdeep is one of the board members of TV 18 and a well respected journalist.

Thanks!

Totally off topic
Well respected journalist... says who??

Back to the topic
my friend at OD left for good in mid December and joint another automobile portal.

Incidentally he was assigned this particular section when he was there. I am so glad he left before this mess.

[noopster]

Advertorials are nothing more than paid-for inserts that are created by the advertiser with or without the creative and copy skills of the magazine in question. I remember doing a few of them with a trade magazine that we advertised in (at a software company). In this case, the content would definitely come from Goodyear or their advertising agency. Overdrive would certainly reserve the right to refuse certain content it deems unsuitable but by and large they would go with whatever Goodyear came up with.

So the question is: did they KNOWINGLY pluck the content off T-BHP and publish it as a bylined article or blindly accept what product they got from a individual in the magazine/tyre company's marketing dept/agency in good faith and then publish it? If the latter, some benefit of the doubt may be granted to OD and Goodyear. If it is the former, and from their reactions on Facebook it does look like they are trying to cover it up, then it is absolutely reprehensible and a shame for the automotive journalism fraternity in India.

By the way, I would stop short of calling it "plagiarism" which is apparently defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication," of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work. (source: Wikipedia). To my knowledge nothing of that sort has taken place here. Tanveer was given due credit for the piece but without his permission. Definitely a serious issue but not as serious as "plagiarism" which would be the case if the article had been bylined by someone else or not credited at all.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by noopster

Advertorials are nothing more than paid-for inserts that are created by the advertiser with or without the creative and copy skills of the magazine in question. I remember doing a few of them with a trade magazine that we advertised in (at a software company). In this case, the content would definitely come from Goodyear or their advertising agency. Overdrive would certainly reserve the right to refuse certain content it deems unsuitable but by and large they would go with whatever Goodyear came up with.

As somebody who has been there and done that my 2 cents. Goodyear may not have played any role except for may be seeing the final copy before printing. It is OD who is responsible for generating the content and tweaking it sufficiently to meet the brand aspirations of Goodyear. OD must have done a long term deal with Goodyear to create a series of these articles every issue and run it as advertorials / branded section.

Originally Posted by noopster

So the question is: did they KNOWINGLY pluck the content off T-BHP and publish it as a bylined article or blindly accept what product they got from a individual in the magazine/tyre company's marketing dept/agency in good faith and then publish it? If the latter, some benefit of the doubt may be granted to OD and Goodyear. If it is the former, and from their reactions on Facebook it does look like they are trying to cover it up, then it is absolutely reprehensible and a shame for the automotive journalism fraternity in India.

By the way, I would stop short of calling it "plagiarism" which is apparently defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication," of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work. (source: Wikipedia). To my knowledge nothing of that sort has taken place here. Tanveer was given due credit for the piece but without his permission. Definitely a serious issue but not as serious as "plagiarism" which would be the case if the article had been bylined by someone else or not credited at all.

I am fairly sure that it is not an inadvertent mistake, the subsequent actions by OD on their FB page just proves that. While I don't want to go into the technical definitions of what plagiarism is OD has certainly printed an article not sourced by them through legal means. To add to it they have tweaked it to suit their commercial interest in terms of "Brand Interest" for their client which in my opinion is far more serious issue than discussing about whether the charge here is of Plagiarism or not.

@Tanveer: Can you check if there has been any contact from OD to you in the days gone by asking you permission to print the article, dunno if it has gone in your spam folder or something like that. As somebody who has worked in the system I am still sure that no magazine would want to blatantly pick up something without thinking about the consequences, more so by an automobile magazine from an automobile forum where there exists a high instance of duplicate readership.

[sudev]

@tsk1979 : If the process of sorting out takes days then I do not think some thing positive or quick is coming your way.

Are there any specific instances of OD doing something similar without by your leave?? Some one mentioned pictures from a photographer??

[condor]

One possible outcome is that OD just puts in a small 2 col cm note in their next issue that their Ed /Ed team was not aware of it being lifted from TBHP, and the responsibility might be put on some junior staffer who was not "aware" of such ethics. Or may be put it on Goodyear, who might do the same.