I guess Ricardo will be very "happy" about it. Crooks. - Paulo Nuin

Got a link to the original? Maybe if we all make some (blog) noise we'll get a reaction. - Bill Hooker

This is Ricardo's so I am sure he has some legal rights. Isn't he too busy getting married or something these days - Deepak Singh

it is the logo of the DNA network feed/blog community. - Paulo Nuin

http://www.flickr.com/photos... proof one, from Ricardo's flickr stream - Paulo Nuin

http://blindscientist.genedrift.org/2008... - Paulo Nuin

http://tinyurl.com/6hx7bq - Nils Reinton

http://www.sennoma.net/main... - Bill Hooker

Let me email the company and set them straight, - Hsien-Hsien Lei

Just sent them this email: "Dear Johnner and Sally Tan, I am the co-founder of The DNA Network (http://dnabloggers.com), a not-for-profit collection of blogs about DNA and genetics. As I'm sure you are aware, the DNA Dynasty badge on your homepage uses our "DNA in a test tube" graphic that was designed by my co-founder, Ricardo Vidal. Please refrain from using the graphic on your site. I'm sure Mr. Vidal would be more than happy to design a logo that is uniquely your own for a reasonable fee. He can be reached at rvidal@gmail.com. - Hsien-Hsien Lei

http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/2008... - Jonathan Eisen

not wishing to start an argument and certainly dont want to support the company but in an open world surely this is part and parcel of the risks of making your work available. Not sure what the license on ricardos image is but it is difficult to argue that everything should be cc-by and then object to specific uses. This is the necessary downside of availability. By all means attack the company but calling it theft is i think somewhat hypocritical. (of course if ricardos image is copyright or cc-nc then it is theft in this specific case but the general argument still holds i think) - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

of course it should have been attributed which i guess it probably wasn't - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

The Flickr original is an all-rights reserved: http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Neil Saunders

http://www.eyeondna.com/2008... - Hsien-Hsien Lei

And mine: http://shirleywho.wordpress.com/2008... - Shirley Wu

Cameron, there's a link to Ricardo's original right there in this thread. You really should check your facts before you throw around words like "hypocritical". There's no inconsistency at all between arguing that more culture/science/etc should be freely available, and supporting individual decisions to reserve all or specific rights in creative works. - Bill Hooker

In particular, there's no hypocrisy in arguing that (for reasons of efficiency and especially in the case of public funding) *science* should be free of copyright and similar restrictions, and supporting individual decisions to apply copyright to *artistic* work. - Bill Hooker

I am all for open. At the same time, that also means that one respect licenses. In this case, they took one which was not openly available for a commercial operation. Creative Commons, etc all break down if you don't respect the license. - Deepak Singh

There's also an argument for making your work open, but objecting to slimeballs using it, too. - Mr. Gunn

So Cameron, summarizing what you wrote, we have a nice saying in Portuguese: pepper on someone else eyes is quite refreshing. Luckily, for you, it was Ricardo's image that was stolen, not some of your work. I'll check your reaction when it is yours. - Paulo Nuin

i did try to check the license but could not get through on my phone at the time. If i was out of order on this one i stand called on that but there is a more general point. I just wanted to point out that there is an inconsistency with calling for everything to be re-usable and then getting upset about a specific re-use. It is absolutely the authors choice what license to apply or not. But i wont be criticising people for re-using material when i spend most of my time arguing that we should be able to re-use more. Now criticising a lack of proper attribution is another thing... - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

@Paulo, when we eventually meet f2f I'll buy you all the beer you can drink if you'll teach me to say that in Portuguese! - Bill Hooker

will do Bill, my pleasure. - Paulo Nuin

Paulo, people reproduce my blog posts all the time often without attribution. I dont think i have ever complained about it. To be fair no-one as far as i know has made any significant money off them. I lack ricardos skill at producing compelling images of course. - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

i will also own to hypocritical being a bit judgemental. To be fair it was early in the morning and pre coffee. - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

http://www.switched.com/2007... - Paulo Nuin

I too was pre-caffeine (though it's later in the day here), and I'm sorry if^H^H that I came off snappish. Honestly didn't mean to, though "hypocritical" did push my buttons. I put everything I make in the Public Domain, but I don't expect others to -- unless we're talking about scientific information, and particularly if they took public funds for doing it. - Bill Hooker

no that is fair. The point i wanted to make was about pr as much as anything else. There is a danger that this kind of thing comes across as 'everything should be pd but when my mate copyrights something and you violate it i will jump down your throat'. The subtext being it is ok to violate copyright for 'good' reasons but not for 'bad' reasons. Consistency of message is important. But then i have just spent half the day arguing about licences... - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

just to be clear i know that is not anybodys position and that people round here understand the subtleties but there is a danger of it being interpreted that way - Cameron Neylon from fftogo

Excellent discussion !!! Right now I just hope Ricardo didn't sell the logo to them without any of us knowing..........I miss his voice in this.... - Nils Reinton

Hey guys!! I'm sorry but as Deepak said, I was getting married and stuff. Meanwhile, I had limited or no internet access and therefore couldn't keep up. I was too busy camel riding in the Sahara desert :) I appreciate all your feedback and my dear friend and co-founder of the DNA Network, Hsien-Hsien Lei has already contacted them. Lets wait and see. As for the license of that image, it's not CC or public domain because at the time I was making a living (read barely managing) by designing logos... - Ricardo Vidal

Am I the only one publishing the inane comments the company's supporters are posting on our blogs? - Hsien-Hsien Lei

I haven't had any - what are they saying ? - Nils Reinton

http://www.eyeondna.com/2008... - Hsien-Hsien Lei

Answered one of the comments. I don't know if this is what you wanted Hsien, but I couldn't help myself. - Nils Reinton

Yes, that's what I wanted!!! Thanks, Nils. :) - Hsien-Hsien Lei