Publishers voice copyright concerns over mygazines.com

The US-based website launched earlier this week offering users free magazine content to read and archive in the same manner that magazines are shared in a doctor's waiting room or library.

The site claims it was created to enable users to avoid content they don't want, archive material they do want without hoarding stacks of magazines and lower their carbon footprints.

However, some publishers have objected to the site, saying that it allows people to consume and manipulate their content without the publishers' permission.

World magazine body FIPP has urged its members to check the website, ask for their titles to be removed and seek legal counsel if their content is not taken down.

Andrew Batt, executive director of Bangkokstation Network, the publisher of BusinessWeek Thailand, said: "If publishers choose to allow their content to be freely distributed then it should be controlled, and in ways that allow them to benefit through tracking. As far as I can see this site is breaking copyright laws, and if one of my titles appeared there I would take action to have it removed."

Time Asia publishing director Alan Lammin said the matter was being investigated, and given FIPP's alert "the conclusion is that the site could well be in breach of intellectual property rights".

But not all disapprove of mygazines.com. Charlotte Goh, marketing director of ACP Magazines, commented: "Of course, potential copyright issues need to be considered. But if publishers consider such sites to be valuable additions to their communications mix and not just a dumping ground for magazines they can't sell, then they can be a good complement to wider marketing plans."