I'm planning on launching a website with webmaster resources, and I wanna know if I can get into any legal issues. I'm going to download free templates and put my URL in the footer, then provide them for free on my site. I will not delete footer link to the creator of the template tho. I'm going to copy articles from article sites and put them on mine. I will not delete any URL or author text. I'm going to sell ebooks (with reseller rights). I don't think I'll get into any legal issues about the ebooks, just wanted to mention it. Thanks!
Most would depend on the conditions that the author put on things like templates i would think, but..... if someone downlaods a template from you then see's the link to the authors site then they will probably use his/her version with one less out link... know i would. just my 2c.
As far as the ebooks, if you have purchased with resell rights, then you will be able to sell them. You can get in legal trouble for the other two unless the copyright holder either gives you permission or has said in the ToS that you can copy/modify. Just because something is free does not give you the rights to a) distribute it, as in the articles or b) modify it as in the templates. That is not to say you will definitely get in legal trouble. But you certainly could get into trouble by doing either of these things in the US. Without knowing where you are located, one can't say that is definately the case. In most countries this would be true.
You could get to writting, join some PLR services, purchase a large block of articles, or hire some cheap writters. When doing the last three, do your homework before spending the money. Make sure that there are no complaints about content theft for the company/person you are getting the articles from. Do your best to ensure that they have the copyright for these articles in the first place. Also be aware that bulk articles or cheap writers are not likely to give good content. Another option would be to look for blogs that have RSS feeds with commercial republishing rights given in the ToS.
A rule of thumb is that you do not have redistribution rights for anything unless it is explicitly granted. So, your idea of leaving the backlinks in the templates is not going to fly unless the author's terms explicitly allow you to do it.
dizzen: no*, no*, no iScotts: no * Just be sure there is no confusion about the creator. For example, "designed/written by (original link), distributed/sponsored by (your link)" is fine
Basically NO - If all you are providing is a link. BUT...... If, however, you try and hijack some of the text in their own sites, like grabbing headlines, header information, meta tags, etc., and serving them up as xml feeds using Ajax and other fancy technical methods, then technically you could get into trouble. Google has been challenged on some of these points also, and Moreover has just recently been served with a lawsuit over this very practice. However, if it's just a link that says .. joebloggssite.com there shouldn't be any problems. If, however, the download link is a link to a resource that is in itself unlawful, either whether the resource is unlawful (like a torrent site linking to illegal download or sharing of movies etc), or whether the link contains information on unlawful material, then in many US and other european jurisidctions you could get into trouble for aiding and abetting in the commission of an unlawful or criminal act. It would really depend on what that download link is all about!
ok Lets say maby i add a movie or tv show link to Voeh or any other video streaming site would you consider that to be illigal?
I don't know the site you mention, so can't comment. As for any other video streaming site, so long as the video stream site owns the content, OR so long as it is streaming content from a source that allows people to stream it's content, then that would be fine. If you just link to the site without giving any real information as to what it does - you would generally be okay. If you incorporate movies into your site from other sources, that would be fine so long as that other source allows you to do that, and so long as your use/hotlink/embedding of the movies complies with their TOS. AS for linking to sites showing movies unlawfully, try this story: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2195407,00.html