On the 29th of June, I received an email from some people representing a photo company. Long story short, they were requesting $365 due to using a picture that amounted to copyright infringement. Uh oh!
They sent a link to where we’d used this material, which was a random Facebook post from all the way back in 2018. The 2018 Critic Editor had used a picture of a Cadbury Creme Egg for a food review, and they didn’t even know what it would cost me nearly 8 years later.
I took the picture down immediately (RIP) and sent the email to my manager. Much to my horror, these copyright police escalated the matter. They were going to get local legal counsel involved over a picture of a Creme Egg! My manager sent back a very long and very sorry email, so now we only owe them $290 which I will have hopefully remembered to pay by the time you’re reading this.
In other news, you may have seen us break some news about Benedict Ong being trespassed from all OUSA premises. You can read more about that in our news section, but holy shit – it was the craziest article I’ve ever written. I am just glad it all went down over the midsem break, otherwise I probably would’ve been in a lecture when Councillor Ong posted my request for comment to him within 13 minutes of me sending it off. I only knew it had happened because of a staff member diligently refreshing his Facebook and showing me as soon as it happened. It was straight up one of the best moments of my life.
I feel like I say it nearly every editorial, but I am so thankful to be Editor. It’s the best job I could ask for, and I haven’t found a better feeling than the rush I get when I get to publish a story that I’m proud of. Even when we nearly get sued over a picture of a Creme Egg, or Ben Ong takes to Facebook instead of replying to me, I am nothing but happy.
I’d like to give a big thank you to Critic staff, readers and all the amazing journalists around me who make being Editor possible. And with only five issues left for this year (excluding this one), I hope you’ve enjoyed what we’ve printed so far as much as I have.
Have a great week!
