To draw attention to « broken » copyright law, the editor of a popular news site turned the tables on a leading German political party. Finding the government’s Social Democratic Party using a Creative Commons work without permission, he sent them a troll-style settlement demand – and got paid.
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“After some back and forth, because there were two images on the two websites, 1,800 euros was remitted to me,” [Sebastian] Heiser [Editor at Taz.de] says. […]
Underlining the state of today’s “great copyright”, of the 1,800 euros paid ($2,497) Heiser only pocketed 696 euros ($965) since the remaining 1,104 euros ($1,531) went into his lawyer’s bank acccount. Of course, SPD would’ve had to pay legal fees too, estimated at another 1,100 euros.
Total outlay 2,900 euros ($4,023). Amount paid to copyright holder – less than a quarter of that.
News Editor Copyright Trolls Pirating Political Party – and Gets Paid