
Ask HN: Is Medium legally an online blog? - bwang29
One of the article that was once front page of HN https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@pixelmagazine&#x2F;where-are-chernobyl-s-children-a-photojournalist-s-honest-project-in-the-age-of-disaster-tourism-4cd333ab80c7 was taken down in 48 hours by a DCMA notice from National Geographic, clamming &quot;The license for Gerd&#x27;s two images does not permit use on the publishing platform Medium, and was not part of our negotiation or contract. &quot;, although we purchased proper license for &quot;One-time, Non-exclusive rights to use image within the Gerd Ludwig interview piece for Pixel Magazine online blog.&quot;. We spend lots of energy conducting interview and writing the article. What should we do?
======
boulos
You talk to a lawyer (IANAL).

It does look at first glance however that your actual landing page links to
your Medium page as your Blog (you treat G+ as a separate link). In this case,
I would have a lawyer explain to them that you _host_ your blog on Medium
because that's where the cool kids are now (having moved on from tumblr of
course).

So yeah, if you pixelmagazine.tumblr.com, they still might have filed a
takedown but you'd still be right. Next time though, specify the URL to your
blog in the contract (there should be a _definition_ for the term Pixel
Magazine blog, particularly since that's not your company's name!).

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bwang29
OP here

In the contract, there wasn't any URL address or domain specified. The only
wording related to the content destination is "One-time, Non-exclusive rights
to use image within the Gerd Ludwig interview piece for Pixel Magazine online
blog." I think the problem is as many pointed out - that there was a confusion
that the Pixel Magazine blog was hosted on Medium.com. We came up with the
Pixel Magazine name very recently, and were also migrating our content to the
new @pixelmagazine handle. We used to be @polarrist on medium. This might
create more confusion because @polarrist is now all routing to @pixelmagazine
now so [https://medium.com/@polarrist/where-are-chernobyl-s-
children...](https://medium.com/@polarrist/where-are-chernobyl-s-children-a-
photojournalist-s-honest-project-in-the-age-of-disaster-tourism-4cd333ab80c7)
is pointing to the same article. We added more branding elements (the logo) to
make sure this is indeed the Pixel Magazine.

I think the take away from our experience is that, definitely make sure in the
contract, specify the URL and domain name.

As we only maintain this one blog, I think the "one time,non exclusive"
reflects the spirit of the contract more. We should have just specify that we
will only post this in one and only one blog ever hosted on the internet.

We pretty much don't have a place to post this article anymore, until we hear
back from NG.

~~~
hdra
Isn't that a bad idea? Including a domain name that you don't even own in a
contract?

Also, I took a look at the posts under @pixelmagazine handle, and they are
definitely high-quality articles, and I'm sure they took a lot of efforts to
produce, so, I'm curious, why do you choose to publish under Medium instead of
setting up your own website?

~~~
bwang29
Medium is a great place for managing and circulating content. The ecosystem is
strong and until we have a strong need to brand every element of the magazine
out, we don't want to give up the awesome readership from Medium.com

------
mbesto
Hey Borui! That sucks, sorry to hear.

A couple of suggestions:

1\. Check with lawyer.

2\. Review your contract for the license. Specifically if you define where
your blog resides. Medium also clearly states "You’re responsible for the
content you submit to Medium and assume all risks associated with it,
including anyone else’s reliance on its accuracy, or claims relating to
intellectual property or other legal rights. By posting, you represent that
you own or have the necessary rights to post the content on Medium, and that
doing so doesn’t conflict with any other licenses you’ve granted."

3\. If your claim is correct, NG probably just made a mistake thinking "oh
medium.com, we didn't allow that!", however if you contract very specifically
dictates where the blog resides (ULR for example) they are most likely
negligent. We can't let content creators simply throw out DMCA notices left
and right without them doing their homework:

 _Think Long and Hard Before Filing a DMCA Notification or Counter-Notice

Please think carefully before submitting a claim or counter-notice, especially
if you aren’t sure whether you are the actual rights holder or authorized to
act on a rights holder’s behalf. There are legal and financial penalties for
fraudulent and/or bad-faith claims. Please make sure you are the actual rights
holder, or you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed in
error, and that you understand the repercussions of submitting a false
claim._[0]

[0] - [https://medium.com/policy/medium-terms-of-
service-9db0094a1e...](https://medium.com/policy/medium-terms-of-
service-9db0094a1e0f)

[1] - [https://medium.com/policy/mediums-copyright-and-dmca-
policy-...](https://medium.com/policy/mediums-copyright-and-dmca-
policy-d126f73695)

~~~
bwang29
Thanks a lot! I've read the consequences and have submitted a counter notice,
which might lead to a lawsuit from NG against us. However, after back tracking
some emails, I think the confusion is indeed caused by what is "Pixel Magazine
online blog", as there is no URL specified in the contract. As the article
that was taken down was indeed from [https://medium.com/@pixelmagazine/where-
are-chernobyl-s-chil...](https://medium.com/@pixelmagazine/where-are-
chernobyl-s-children-a-photojournalist-s-honest-project-in-the-age-of-
disaster-tourism-4cd333ab80c7) , and the account has Pixel Magazine branding,
following the rule of one time, non exclusive uses as when it was taken down,
we'll lead NG to decide if they want to file a lawsuit on this. If we don't
hear back from them in 10 days, the article will be back online. I will keep
you guys updated!

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jrochkind1
You say your contract said "for Pixel Magazine online blog" specifically. So
maybe it's not just a question of whether Medium is a blog, but whether that
publication was on the "Pixel magazine online blog."

But none of us are lawyers, we can't say. There is no official legal
definition of 'a blog' so far as I know.

------
tedunangst
They probably were looking for more prominent "Pixel Magazine online blog"
branding on the page. Medium doesn't really highlight the fact that you seem
to be hosting said blog on their site, as opposed to it just being some random
yahoo's article.

------
gojomo
Conform to the fine-print-details of your license! Consult a lawyer.

If an expert says your use on Medium is defensible on legal grounds, you can
"counter-notify" Medium, which may restore access unless/until National
Geographic chooses to sue you.

On the other hand, if the license contract has definitions and requirements
that might not be satisfied by appearance on Medium, just publish the article
someplace that conforms to the requirements. Blurb/link (without the photos)
from medium and other places. You don't need to die on the 'Medium' hill,
there's plenty of ways to get your news out.

------
dylanhassinger
sounds like they expected you to publish it on a domain Pixel Magazine
controls. Medium is more like a social platform.

~~~
icebraining
There are one-off posts on Medium, I don't see the significant difference
between a Publication and a blog on Blogger or Wordpress.com. Controlling the
domain is definitively not required to have a blog.

~~~
derefr
Perhaps that publishing on Medium grants Medium (through some TOS terms) the
right to republish and reuse anything published there (nominally for creating
indexes and recommendations, but the legalese says what it says.)

~~~
icebraining
Well, that would mean they've signed two contracts which they can't fulfill
simultaneously, but it wouldn't make the original posts a copyright violation,
only the subsequent redistributing that Medium might do.

------
boulos
So everyone else doesn't have to find it: the Pixel Magazine blog is for an
app (company?) called polarr at polarr.co.

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chrisBob
Have you contacted anyone at National Geographic? There is a good chance they
made a mistake and this could be easily fixed.

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Plishar
Medium publishes blogs. They are the publisher.

Not the users.

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wusatiuk
it´s always the question of the contract in detail... when the contract does
not help, courts can. but be aware that it´s always like russian roulette, if
you negotiate an online case, with a judge, who possibly does not even know
facebook or understands the term "blog"...

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x0054
If there are no provisions against it in the contract it self, can you scan
and post the contract?

