Copyright...or public domain

The Internet (not just for porn), is a wealth of posted articles. I have posted articles on the Internet, specifically I am posted on a protected site that copyrights my material, even if I re-publish it on another site or through a magazine I can get in trouble of it, because I essentially sold my material to this site. They pay me (not very well mind you) to have it posted on their site.

If you follow, say @neilhimself you have probably heard about Cooks Sources big faux pas and possible Copyright infringement. If not here is a link to the story or if you want a more elegant version of the story here is that link.

Now here is my issue with this whole thing (meaning Cooks Source claiming they did no wrong). The words about the Internet is public domain. It isn't. Not when the article is posted on a copyright protected page (which this article was). It'll be interesting to see what the court says about this, I have a feeling that we may be finding out. For good reasons too. This issue if it hits the court system will change how Internet posting is dealt with completely. If Cooks Source wins, as a writer I will be extremely disappointed and will have issues from here on out of how, when and where I post anything. Hopefully Monica Gaudio wins, if so I think from then on the Internet will never be considered public domain again.

Before I sign out on this posting I would like to point out that as a college student that if I so much as use three words in the same order as someone else I have to give that person credit (yes Cooks Source did give credit to Gaudio, but they did not so much as contact her about using it). This is a different situation, because thankfully in that way I do not have to contact every source I use, but also different is I am not lifting an entire article (editing added or not).

If you hear more about this let me know, though I will probably be following this situation closely out of respect for a fellow writer.