So Google had some contest in Australia, asking schoolkids to create a Google logo. The kid who won the contest used the Aboriginal flag in her logo. The guy who designed the flag holds a copyright on the image, and he wanted to be paid. Apparently he did not get the memo about Google.

See, the thing about Google is that Google is a special non-evil type of company and because it is so non-evil it has permission to use everyone’s copyrighted material without paying for it, because Google isn’t doing this to make money, they’re doing it to help people and save puppies and kittens and make the world a better place, so usually what they do is just go ahead and use other people’s stuff without asking, and if those people don’t complain then they assume it’s okay to use it, and if they do complain, well, Google will make every effort to comply with what that person wants, because this is just the right thing to do.

Flagman’s version of events: “I said well you can use it but there’s a fee component and the [Google] person said: ‘Oh we can’t do that, we can’t pay for it, we’ll have to ask the girl to change it [the logo] if we have to pay for it.'”

Yup. That sounds like Google all right. FWIW, Eric and the wonder boys are just as cheap in person too. Every time I’ve been in a restaurant with them, as soon as it’s time for the check to arrive they’ve all mysteriously been called away to make a phone call or use the men’s room. Fuckers.

Adds the flagman:

“It’s a one-off situation where a commercial company wants to use someone else’s copyright, so what you do is you offer more than is necessary to convince the copyright owner to agree,” Thomas said.

“[But] they first contacted me wanting it to be used freely … you don’t start off negotiations that way – they put me on the back foot, and therefore I had to protect my interests in a respectful way.

“They didn’t give me a straight-out offer, and with all their money and machinery and know-how, they should have known what to do – it’s as simple as that.”

Oh, friend, they know what they’re supposed to do. They know damn well what to do. Hell, you can’t work in the cafeteria at Google unless you’ve passed an IQ test that’s harder than the entrance exam at NASA. These smart little pricks just won’t do it.