Free Peer-to-Peer Magazine Portal Launches; MPA Threatens Legal Action

Mygazines.com is registered to a company with post office box in Anguilla.

Here we go again.

Following in the barely legal footsteps of free, peer-to-peer digital magazine sites that have come before it, Mygazines.com, a Web site that enables users to “share” magazines as they would in “a doctors' office, law firm, library and hair salon,” launched today.

The site already boasts current issues of dozens of magazines, including People, Playboy, Dwell, Domino, Allure, Spin, Smithsonian, Popular Science, Martha Stewart Living, New York, Men’s Journal and Esquire.

“This is a blatant infringement on all magazines’ copyrights that we’re taking very seriously,” Lauren Starke, director of public relations for New York magazine, said in a statement to FOLIO: Wednesday. “We are working with our legal counsel and the MPA to put a stop to this abuse of magazine content.” A Hearst spokesperson said the company was exploring similar legal options. And the MPA weighed in with a statement to FOLIO:: "We believe [this] is a blatant copyright infringement of our members’ titles. We are aggressively pursuing the matter in conjunction with our members’ attorneys and expect that legal action will commence shortly.”

Representatives for the publishers of other titles, including Condé Nast and Playboy, did not respond immediately to requests seeking comment.

“This is not a new phenomenon [...] in fact it is so common that publishers themselves promote their estimates of this ‘sharing’ to potential advertisers,” the company behind the Mygazine site said in a statement announcing the launch. “[The site] levels the playing field in the industry, by allowing both large and small publishing houses equal access to potential readers.”

The site is registered to Salveo Limited—a U.K.-based company that sells health and beauty products—and lists its address as a post office box on the Caribbean island of Anguilla—a British territory. An e-mail to the company was returned with an “out of office” reply. A voicemail left on the number registered with the site was not returned.

According to the site’s terms of use, users are not allowed to “post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any [c]ontent that is infringing.” But the site allows uploading if “you purchased the [c]ontent, created the [c]ontent, you own the rights to the [c]ontent and/or the [c]ontent is freely distributed by its [c]reator.”

In 2006, two similar Web sites offering free PDF downloads of American magazines—SpotBit.com and the peer-to-peer-based Zinoku—were launched outside of U.S. jurisdiction. Both sites were quickly shuttered. (SpotBit eventually relaunched and now offers mostly obscure e-books, magazines and brochures.)

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Napster for the magazine industry

Submitted by Cimarron Buser (Texterity) on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 12:11.

It's Napster all over again ... this time for the magazine industry. This is clearly a "steal this magazine" site, but the concept of an easy-to-use, friendly magazine browsing and searching experience is a good one. We know that magazines are a great experience, and want to share the value ... but without giving away the farm (and our intellectual property). The good news is that as business models evolve to support a "sampling" model on the net (e.g., Coverleaf.com), we are hoping to have our cake and eat it too... With a solution that provides a friendly reader experience, and protects the interests of publishers at the same time.

Share Smart

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 12:25.

It is obvious that posting full versions of magazines for free is a copyright infringement. It would be a whole different story if Mygazines.com would post previews of magazine content that also lead to the proprietary full versions of the magazines, but clearly this is not the case. Share wisely, generate traffic to the legit magazines and maybe even get paid for it, now instead of opening up that opportunity you they are going to get slapped with a huge lawsuit. hahahahaha, smart!!!

Elegant, Eco-friendly Sharing . . .

Submitted by Adam Kadleck (Zinio) on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 15:16.

Publishers using Zinio for their digital issues offer an elegant, eco-friendly alternative to subscribers without compromising the integrity of their copyrighted content. And most publishers enable subscribers to share with a friend . . . a win for publishers, the environment, subscribers and their friends.

What Next?

Submitted by J Schiltz on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 16:23.

Next, they'll be broadcasting free HBO channels.

Just Makes Me Want the Real Thing

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 17:12.

When I took a look at what Mygazine had to offer and found out how well done and hassle free it was, I scanned some magazines I hadn't bothered with for ages. Now I want to go out and buy the print versions because I'm reminded just how good they are.

Rebirth of Print?

Submitted by John Jainschigg on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 17:53.

Adam Kadleck, of Zinio, is exactly right. What's astonishing about this mygazines site is how pleasant it is to use: browse an electronic newsstand, then leaf through magnificently-designed publications, where every ad occupies a full right-hand page across from trenchant copy -- all without causing mental conflict or popping windows up in your face. If magazine publishers were smart, they'd ditch the notion of conventional websites -- always fighting for above-the-fold space, sliced and diced to meaninglessness by Google -- and invest heavily in e-magazine solutions like Zinio: with built in interactives, metrics, and all that good web stuff, but offering a beautifully-designed, serene, linear reading experience, and high-value advertising real-estate.

Brilliant

Submitted by LV on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 11:26.

Now that is a fast, easy, uncluttered ebook interface and website. It’s exactly what the publishing industry needs, with a little tweaking, a real digital newsstand where all publishers are displayed, where if you want you can stand there all day and read. Or you can buy it and walk out. It’s finally web 2.0 for magazines. Granted it should probably only be the latest issues, have places to actually buy a subscription and drive you to the actual publishers website. But it’s the best start I’ve seen. Pity it’ll be gone in less than 6 months mired in lawsuits, because the industry will interpret it as a mad man not the messiah.

Good luck Mygazines!

Submitted by eds23 on Thu, 08/14/2008 - 18:10.

The only companies that should be upset by the Mygazines site are digital edition newsstands and the likes of Zinio because if Mygazines is allowed to continue, and the users upload each issue of a title, their business models are now defunct as far as I can see. The only issues I see are that the quality of the PDF’s uploaded isn’t fantastic. The scanned pages don’t always join up well and the images look quite blurry in a lot of cases. Mind you, as most digital magazines have the function to download PDF’s of the pages, it would only take a few a few single minded users to use them instead of scans and essentially you have the same product for free. I have no problem at all with Mygazines and wish them the best of British! …in many ways I feel it was inevitable that a site like this started up and I really don’t see the difference between this and all the copyright infringements on YouTube, and music and film distribution via P2P networks. Rather than try and sue them, publishers should be trying to work with them and try and understand some of the benefits they may reap through realising how content can be distributed through file sharing and social networks….something that not many of them have the slightest clue about. I really don’t get the name though!!!!