After initially agreeing to a settlement with Shock magazine after it used one of his copyrighted Iraq photos without his permission, Michael Yon reports that HFM, the French publishing giant that excretes Shock, has violated the spirit of the proposed settlement and that the deal is off.
A few weeks ago when this story first broke, bloggers started putting pressure on the retailers that distribute Shock to pull the magazine from their shelves and refuse to stock future issues (I posted the names of some of those retailers and their contact info here). Now that HFM has broken the deal, we need to renew that pressure which, Yon reports, “had a devastating impact on the launch of a magazine.”
Shock used one of Yon’s copyrighted images without permission. It used that picture for a purpose that Yon abhors: to take a swipe at U.S. troops in Iraq and to label their mission the “new Vietnam.” Bloggers of all political stripes should care about this issue. HFM’s actions are exemplary of a large, deep-pocketed media conglomerate thinking it can push around an Internet upstart. The market is the best place to punish them. Find out how by clicking here.