Arr Matey- digital piracy of the printed word

We’ve all seen the cultural phenomenon of burning and selling CDs and DVDs followed by the legal aftermath. Here’s a new one- “digital piracy.” No, not sailing on the high seas with black flags boasting skulls and crossbones. We’re talking about scanning, uploading, and archiving full copies of popular magazines and sharing them with the world.

That’s called illegal, my friends. Or, as the Associated Press call it, a “flagrant” copyright infringement.

On Friday, the AP reported that there’s a new kid on the e-block who is stealing competition from hard copy magazines which populate kiosks, convenience stores and the like.

Mygazines.com, a questionable websites based out of Anguilla, gives e-readers the chance to browse “high-quality digital copies of dozens of current titles” including “People, Men's Health and The Economist in their entirety.”

As of Friday, Mygazines.com was boasting an impressive 16,000 users, all of whom registered for free.

So what’s the big deal? It’s another company unlawfully providing pirated copies of content for free online. Shut down the website and sue for damages!

Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. The nation of Anguilla is a British-ruled Caribbean island, and as such is technically “outside of the jurisdiction of U.S. copyright law.”

Even if disgruntled magazine companies attempt to sue Mygazine.com on the grounds of copyright infringement- after all, a case in American courts would be applicable “because content is available to Americans-” there would be no way to legally “force Mygazines representatives to show up,” as the AP writes. And in that regard, no suing party would be able to “collect any damages for any ruling made” without the defendant present.

In a company press release posted last month, Mygaziens.com contended “its copies are no different from magazines shared in a doctor's office or salon.”

Jeffrey Cunard, a lawyer with Washington-based Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, considered this assertion to be bogus. Cunard reported to the AP that the “first-sale doctrine says that once I buy a physical copy of something, I can do whatever I want with it — except copy it” and unfortunately, that’s what Mygaziens.com is going.

There has been no response from Mygazines.com, and really, how could there be? The AP pointed out that the domain was registered under one “John Smith” (most likely a generic alias), a P.O. box number was the only listed address, and the contact phone number “rang unanswered.”