Surfer Send Message Vis Website’s Contact Form – Who Owns Copyright?

I remember once stumbling across someone's website who had a contact form on it and an accompanying text outlines a statue from some law which states that the website owner has full right over message submitted and can publish it on the website if so desired - but I can't find that site anymore. I tried searching by no relevant searches are coming back. I was also trying to search for copyright clarification over content submitted to websites using contact forms, but had no luck.

Is anyone familiar with it? Do you have any links which deal with this phenomenon where i can get that clarified? Do you have solid answer to - who owns a copyright if a visitor to your site sends you a message using contact form?

I know the webmaster I saw this message on said that because he was getting a lot of threats and hatemail, because he had a political site and often ripped into popular politicians. I am facing similar issue and don't know what my rights are in this regard. What can I do with text submitted to me via website's contact form?

 

by law (can not remember which one) your website is protected on the most part from 3rd party posters...that means the user can come to your website, and make a slander post about anything, and the website pretty much can not be held responsible...but that does not protect the poster...a good example would be ripoffreport.com- users are making slander posts all the time about compaines and such...ripoff also makes it very clear once a post is made it will not be removed by any means (unless you pay) now if it is proven that the website owner is making the slander posts, then the website has no protection under the law. you might want to find some website law forum, and post your question there. they can probably help you more.

 

"who owns a copyright if a visitor to your site sends you a message using contact form?"​

I think you missed the question. He is not asking about a post on the site, but rather about the content of a submission through a form and whether he can post that and who owns the copyright to it.

I would answer but I don't know definitively without doing research.

 

I don't think there is anything on this specific issue, but using a few other laws I think that absent a declaration stating otherwise the person filling out the form would own the copyright and it could not be legally posted publicly without permission.

My reasoning comes from looking at decisions regarding formum posts, snail mail and email. Snail mail and email copyright stays with the author of the correspondence. The person whom receives the mail/email does not have the legal right to distribute the mail/email without permission. Forum post copyright is held by the author, though by publishing it in a public forum they give the forum owner certain rights. However, since the expectation with a contact/email form is that the email would be private you would need some sort of notice that by using the form they agree to allow you to post the content or get permission after the fact.

What kind of trouble you might get in would depend highly on the content of the email.

 

I do not necessarily think that is an accurate statement of the law. It really depends on the content. If I sent my publisher a letter with a book idea, that would be protected. If I sent a letter calling her a whore and otherwise just insulting her, I think she would have every right to publish it without my permission.

As one example I would cite you to the EFF Chilling Effects Clearing House website where cease and desist letters are routinely published without any permission sought from the sender. This is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics.

http://www.chillingeffects.org/
http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/overview

I would also point you to this faq on that site:

Question: What does it mean if the cease-and-desist letter I got has a copyright notice?

Answer: Copyright can be claimed on any original expression, but some uses of copyrighted works, including use for commentary and criticism, are fair uses, not infringement. It is highly unlikely that someone could sue successfully for the posting of a cease-and-desist notice (most notices are minimally creative; the use is for purposes of commentary and research; the amount used is necessary to the understanding; and there is no effect on a "market" for cease-and-desist letters).​

 

Missed the question, but posted some interesting information never the less. I'm sure I have seen this somewhere - on some website's contact form there was a statue quoted saying that you are welcome to contact the website using this form, but be aware that according to {insert statute number here} we have the right to publish the message you sent to us on line.....(or something similar to that) but for the hell of it can't remember.

 

I am sure you mean statute not statue.

 

I swear my command of English language is decent and I'm really good at spelling. My issues however are poor typing skills and laziness to re-read what I have wrote in order to fix potential typing errors

 

I think this would come down to how the administrator has set up the click-wrap agreement. Does a hypothetical user have to check an "I agree to the T&C" checkbox? If so, you probably have a legal leg to stand on.