Now, here's a memory test for loyal Media Watch viewers. What is this?

Well, it's the Phantom of the Internet trophy, which back in March 2008 we awarded to IT journalist David Richards, owner of web publisher 4Square Media.

It's for the most original explanation for apparent plagiarism.

We'd identified some ten articles on Richards' websites: Smarthouse; SmarthouseNews and SmartOffice, that had clearly been lifted from elsewhere.

For example, a David Richards story about the imminent launch of Google's Android phones, was taken directly from the website of Britain's Telegraph newspaper:

The sophisticated handsets will make it easier to browse the web and bring some of the programs and features usually found on home computers to mobiles. Some of the world's leading phone manufacturers are expected to reveal prototypes of devices... — Telegraph.co.uk, 8th February, 2008 The sophisticated handsets will make it easier to browse the web and bring some of the programs and features usually found on home computers to mobiles. Some of the world's leading phone manufacturers are expected to reveal prototypes of devices... — Smarthouse website, 10th February, 2008

Jonathan Holmes: And so on, and so on, for five hundred and fifty three identical words. — Media Watch, Episode 3, 3rd March, 2008

Other articles were lifted from American websites like PC World, which specialise, as Richards' do, in electronic consumer gadgetry.

At first, David Richards claimed that he had licenses that allowed him to use this material.

When we showed that wasn't so, he came up with this:

We believe that a former employee who had access to our content engine has changed bylines, dates on stories and posted stories without our knowledge in an effort to discredit us. — Media Watch, Episode 3, 3rd March, 2008

It was all the fault of a mystery hacker - or, as we dubbed him then, the Phantom of the Internet.

Well, a couple of weeks ago a viewer tipped us off about this article on the website IT Journo...

4Square Media is at the centre of another copyright controversy, with IDG demanding that the Smarthouse website take down content it believes was copied from the PC World website. — IT Journo website, 10th June, 2010

PC World recently reviewed a new desktop computer from European company Medion - and was incensed to see chunks of its review reprinted on Smarthouse.

Medion... Shows Up HP & Dell By David Richards — Smarthouse Website

...WorldBench 6 on the PC it recorded a score of 112. This is a significant jump from Medion's older P4010 which we reviewed last year it also out performed HP and Dell's all-in-one PC offerings. — Smarthouse, 3rd June, 2010 ...WorldBench 6 on the Medion AKOYA P4020 D it recorded a score of 112. This is a significant jump from Medion's older P4010 touchscreen PC as well as HP's and Dell's all-in-one PC offerings. — PC World, 3rd June, 2010

And what about the audio quality?

...internal stereo speakers perform well, with good treble and reasonable mid-range sound reproduction at low to moderate volume levels. — Smarthouse, 3rd June, 2010 ...internal stereo speakers perform well, with good treble and reasonable mid-range sound reproduction at low to moderate volume levels. — PC World, 3rd June, 2010

The owners of PC World, IDG, sent a firm email to David Richards about the apparent plagiarism.

But the dreaded Phantom must have wormed his way into Smarthouse's email system, because Richards told IT Journo that he hadn't received any email from IDG.

In any case, he went on...

"It's all crap... Basically they can all go and get f#%ked. This is bullshit". — IT Journo website, 10th June, 2010

We assumed those must be technical terms understood only by geeks.

So we got onto David Richards ourselves.

He explained that, though he had taken the odd sentence from PC World, it didn't amount to breach of copyright.

The copy you refer to is not substantial, is not novel and is basically a technical reference to a product which is available. — Response from David Richards to Media Watch, 17th June, 2010

Read David Richard's full response to Media Watch's questions

Richards fired off an email to IDG, making the same legalistic points, and claiming that he was:

...more than happy to defend a Copyright claim in the Supreme Court... — Email from David Richards to Davy Adams (Managing Director, IDG Communications), 18th June, 2010

He then made a threat of his own:

I believe that your claims to IT Journo are defamatory based on current copyright laws in Australia and as such I demand an apology. — Email from David Richards to Davy Adams (Managing Director, IDG Communications), 18th June, 2010

To which IDG responded drily:

Given that you have confirmed that you are doing what was covered in the IT Journo article, you might find winning a defamation case a bit of a slog. Your time and effort would probably be better spent writing good original content. — Email from Davy Adams (Managing Director, IDG Communications) to David Richards, 18th June, 2010

Ah, it's all smiles and good fellowship out there in techno-geek land!

As for the Phantom of the Internet trophy - well, Mr Richards, it's still yours.