Comments

• 

  SuitcaseReady February 8, 2012 at 11:52pm

  I doubt any travel magazine was ever in the top 10, circ-wise, but circ isnt everything. There is something to be said for pure, special interest audiences when it comes to buying/selling advertising especially in the travel market where most advertisers want the affluent. My magazine has 54,000,000 readers, but other than state/city CVBs and tourism boards we dont get a lot of travel advertising because most travel marketers only want HH $100,000+
• 

  Allan Lynch February 8, 2012 at 6:45pm

  Sam, I'm an old-fashioned kinda-guy. I get assignments and I do them. Just because a magazine isn't in the top 10 doesn't mean it doesn't have needs. It's not out of business. And not every title is geared to serve a mass circulation. So until editors stop saying yes, I plug away.
• 

  Sam Scribe February 8, 2012 at 5:19pm

  I woke up ten minutes ago to news that the number one newsstand magazine in the U.S. is Cosmopolitan, which beats every other magazine by a landslide. (Number two is Woman's World, and three is People.) Overall newsstand sales have fallen 10%, and there are no travel magazines in the top 10 or maybe the top 50. What makes you travel writers continue to plug away at this? 
• 

  Maralyn D Hill February 2, 2012 at 7:54pm

  Looking for NYC restaurants (stand alone or in hotel) with Irish chefs for an article. Please contact me if you know of any good ones. Thanks.
• 

  Allan Lynch February 2, 2012 at 3:47pm

  This is the back story to the lawsuit against the blogger:

  http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/57882-court-orders-425000-dam...
• 

  Allan Lynch February 2, 2012 at 4:13am

  In Canada we've had two nice class actions against publishers for unauthorized use of work. The lawyers get 50%, but for me my modest share paid my rent for a year.

  I don't know anything about US law (except that you wouldn't convict OJ), but I have at different times in my career sued advertisers who didn't pay their accounts. One time the court found for me and that put some sort of judgement against the defendant, so they hurried in to pay. Another case after winning, I had to then file a lien. That was necessary to enforce the court decision. I think that's where defendants get away without paying.

  Oh and another thing - you know how people are always trying to charge you interest on overdue amounts? Again, this is from a Canadian perspective. You used to be able to go to the department of consumer affairs - now it's a more touchy, inclusive name - and pay $50 for a license to charge interest. You had to show them a sample of your invoice so everything was clear.

  Annoying little prick that I am I did that. And I put down interest charged at the rate of 2.5% per cent per month or 30% per annum. The department questioned me on that and said the normal rates were much lower. And I told them that I charged this much because I'm not a banker. My business wasn't to make loans. I wanted it to be more expensive to owe me money than it cost to owe their bank or credit card or other supplier. They allowed it. 

  It came in handy about three years later when I sued a politically-connected deadbeat. He came to court with his very smart, well-bred lawyer who when they lost turned to the adjudicator and said that 90% of the account was for interest and unless Mr. Lynch was licensed to charge interest, the court couldn't impose that as part of the award. When I pulled out the license I thought the lawyer was going to choke me. He and his client weren't smiling then.

  If you're involved in a class action you may want to see about your group's ability to charge interest and make the award compound. That has a way of focusing their attention.
• 

  Ed Wetschler February 2, 2012 at 3:55am

  All very interesting, Allan. I wasn't aware of "libel tourism" --  the right to pick your jurisdiction. Thanks for the explanation and the examples.

  I guess you could say that the class action by unpaid writers that I'm involved in now is kinda like that, insofar as we made a rational decision to choose NY State over Florida. (The United States, as you know, are virtually separate states rather than united ones.) Ah, but will we actually get our money? Still can't say for sure. 

  I can't remember if the discussions you mention in your second set of comments ("while you might be safe at home in the US ") were on Tripatini or elsewhere, but I know what you mean. 
• 

  Allan Lynch February 2, 2012 at 3:23am

  Ed,

  I forgot to mention there is a concept called "libel tourism". This is where plaintiffs pick the jurisdiction in which to sue. Yes, now it's coming back to me - plaintiffs are collecting in these cases. The CBC did a special on it one or two years ago. They collected five or six cases. For example, an Icelandic banker sued a Norwegian (or maybe it was Danish) newspaper in an English court for defamation and won. That's because it's easier to win a defamation case in the UK than in the USA.

  Politicians do better suing in courts in Singapore because their legal system is favourable to ruling classes. And so on.

  With traditional media you sue them in the jurisdiction in which they operate. But in the on-line world courts are looking past borders because this is a borderless medium or is operating is so many jurisdictions that the courts are expanding their reach. 

  I don't know if it was on here, but I remember several other discussions on this topic. I think one of the comments was that while you might be safe at home in the US should you leave the country, maybe an assignment on a cruise ship or holiday in the Caribbean, you could be then served under some international law which would require you to pay up before you could go home.
• 

  Allan Lynch February 2, 2012 at 3:10am

  I'm not the lawyer. But too many people have been too free with their unsubstantiated opinions, and too many people think they can hide across borders. If this were simply a Canadian company doing this, I would rack it up to moral outrage and they've made a point. We like to make points in Canada.

  But the three owners of this business are Americans. Two of them are lawyers. Only one still practices, but the other is still licensed to work. He's the one who took on tobacco - and won. Do we think the blogger has the resources to fight two lawyers and a university professor? They are a trio who have a history of running successful businesses in New Orleans and three other countries. They also wrote a best-selling cookbook for Random House and been positively featured in T+L, Nat Geo Trvlr, Conde Nast, Forbes ... 

  The blogger has an uphill fight. He's fighting against money, reputations that have passed the best editors in the world, and a very smart legal team. I think the fact that one very conservative jurisdiction has found certain facts to be true and actionable could well be considered by another jurisdiction. I have interviewed these guys and am very impressed by them. I believe they have a well-thought-out plan to defend their reputation. They started here and will roll it out there. These guys aren't just a trio of pissed off hoteliers. They are smart and know what they're doing. This is one to follow.

  I think it will make a lot of bloggers and website owners sit up. It may actually help freelancers. It may show the value of reliable contributors and elevate our words beyond "content".
• 

  Ed Wetschler February 2, 2012 at 2:57am

  Thanks for posting this, Allan. As far as you can tell, do plaintiffs in this sort of cross-border suit have much success in collecting?