Many of you are familiar with Magnapoets (ISSN1916-3010), the literary journal that I founded and edited for eight years now. Unfortunately, I have been the victim of identity theft this past year, and my publication, Magnapoets, has been affected.
Imagine my surprise when I returned to resume the journal, only to find that someone else was impersonating me and my journal. Imagine my horror when I discovered that it was someone I had mentored for the past few years, who decided to take advantage of my absence to steal my identity.
Last year I placed Magnapoets on hiatus while I was away. I publicly announced the hiatus, along with the return date (May 2013). During that time, my email addresses were hacked, and my credit card was stolen, which resulted in the loss of the http://www.magnapoets.com domain, and someone claiming that Magnapoets had now been closed down. My work, and the work of our poets and photographers appeared on the site, along with the announcement that a new editor now owned Magnapoets. This is completely untrue.
Magnapoets is owned by me and me alone. I have not sold the publication. I alone own the registration number and the right to the journal. I have taken successful legal action to get my work, and my writer and photographer friends’ work taken down, and I now am taking legal action against the person who did this. The DMCA takedowns are complete, and I am now filing a URDP claim.
Don’t be fooled. The URL http://www.magnapoets.com is no longer affiliated with the real Magnapoets. The present owner of the http://www.magnapoets.com is still falsely using our name, but is now claiming to run a gaming site (now that he/she has been forced to remove our work from his/her site.) http://www.magnapoets.com is no longer a valid poetry publication, and certainly not affiliated with me or any of my publications.
Magnapoets is still very alive and well. I have kept the publication on hiatus until the legal issue is resolved. In future, I might reveal the name of the person who did this, along with some rather bizarre emails from this person. That part I have yet to decide.
For now I will use this space to clarify any further issues of identity theft, and to protect those who trusted Magnapoets with their beautiful poems, stories, articles, artwork, and photography over the years.
One more issue of clarification. Someone by the name of Arti Honrao, who was published in Magnapoets years ago, after much mentoring and effort to make her work publishable, is claiming to work with Magnapoets. That is completely false information. Arti does not, and has not ever, worked with Magnapoets, nor will Arti Honrao ever work with Magnapoets. The information she has posted in this article is false.
Hopefully, next time I post, I will have happier news to share with you.
Until then, do NOT submit to anyone claiming to represent Magnapoets, or who claims to be the new owner of Magnapoets. I’m still very much alive and well. 🙂
UPDATE: Despite being issued a DMCA takedown, someone has decided to hang onto Magnapoets‘ work: http://www.magnapoets.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ Take a look at the dates on the covers, and take a look at the upload dates. Someone has gone to a lot of work to snatch old covers and old images from Magnapoets journals, and our books from the anthology series. Very, very creepy.
UPDATE 2: Okay, this person has now removed my work from the site, but still is using the name Magnapoets without authorization. The parental directory now looks like this: http://www.magnapoets.com/wp-content/uploads/ .I hope this person gets the help that she/he needs. Still working on the legal aspect of this. I am so thankful that Canadian business registration is so detailed – it keeps our work protected.
UPDATE 3: I’ve also marked Magnapoets here.
Aurora Antonovic
Editor-in-Chief, Magnapoets (ISSN1916-3010)
© Magnapoets 2005-2013
No unauthorized use or distribution.
Magnapoets is registered under ISSN1916-3010
Magnapoets 
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