Free Internet Information Repackaged And Sold

Can you believe it!
By: James A. Warholic

Information that is free is trying to be peddled and sold as special reports...

It is one thing to charge for an article when a publisher has given permission. It is something else altogether, Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement when someone else tries to sell an article without expressed permission to sell it by the original publisher.

Print Publishers Vs Online Publishers

Since the mid 90s when the Internet took off in such a huge way the old-line print publishers went looking for ways to cover their declining market share to the Search Engines. Encyclopedias that were once sold to schools and universities for thousands of dollars had all but become obsolete. Colliers, Britannica, Grolier, Compton, and other reference encyclopedias have had to try and reinvent themselves for the Online publishing world.

Internet Business Models For Earning Revenue

There are several business models for earning revenue from original manuscripts, technical and medical articles or legal briefs, analysts reports, or information written by well known authors. One way is to go to a print publisher and give permission for the publisher to print the material. Another way is to self publish the information in print form. Both of these options involve printing and shipping costs to get the print media into the hands of the reader.

Many authors have taken another approach to publishing the information. That form is through the online world. Writing on this website is in fact publishing online. When the original publisher hits the "Publish Post" button and it becomes posted online for anyone to read, the original work is copyright protected. Revenues from the online advertising helps support the site. An author can provide certain permissions to have their work republished on another website or in print form. Other times the copyrights are completely held by the publisher. When a website or written documents have a statement such as "All Rights Reserved", that is meaning that the original author has not released any of his or her copyrights.

Consequences of Copyright Infringement

So, what does that mean for the publisher that has written the original online article and someone or even a large publishing house has copied the text? It means that they are committing copyright infringement or plagiarism of the original. Such activities can be met with severe legal and financial impact. Read what has happened to students, legal professionals, and even university professors that have been found guilty of copyright infringement.

Enter the Selling of Free Information

I have witnessed eCommerce websites that are into the selling of essays online. In fact one of these eCommerce websites even makes a mockery of cheating by calling themselves by the same name. Just recently though, there was a major distinguished publisher house that surprised me in their aggressive moves online, by selling articles that are completely free. The rub is not only that they are selling articles that are free to read on other websites, but these articles are copyright protected and have not been given approval to actually sell them to others.

I speak from Internet experience as one of the authors that has not been contacted for permission to sell an article on the following website Goliath goliath.ecnext.com, Goliath is Thomson Gale's online-business content service.

goliath thomson

goliath thomson
Both of those screen shots show an article that I wrote. It is plainly evident in these pictures that Goliath and Thompson Gale are offering this article for sale in an ecommerce type of transaction. They have not contacted me about any compensation or any other form of communication. Go to the following link to view this original article on online Advertising Scam "Search Engine Data Merging"

In an article about this Goliath, the reporter is surprised to find a link to this new website. The reporter was additionally surprised there was no press release from Thomson Gale concerning Goliath. See the article published at Information Today, Inc., 4/4/2005, by: Paula J. Hane : Thomson Gale Quietly Rolls Out New Business Service

To really understand how large an organization this company is requires doing a little research online. If one were to take a look at the approximate number of pages stored online, they would see boat loads of www.ecnext.com pages of information stored Online in the Google Database. Goliath alone has numerous pages stored online with Google.

Internet Problems

How many of these pages are copyright protected without the original author even knowing that their stories are being sold without their permission? And, what about the numbers of authors in which Thomson Gale has sold articles online or provided monthly business subscription services and not provided any compensation to the original authors?

Is it possible that Thomson Gale quietly released this so called Goliath Business Service because they might have been aware of potential problems about the way they were going about selling information?

This is no small time business publishing company
About The Thomson Corporation and Thomson Gale
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2004 revenues from continuing operations of $8.10 billion...

With revenues of that magnitude it is a Goliath powerhouse company.

All I can say is, remember what happened to Goliath when David came along.

Professional Web Services, Inc. Internet marketing services, online advertising strategies, web branding solutions to provide more sales for your business.
Copyright © 2005 All Rights Reserved

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