Intellectual Property - Who owns the rights to a donation?

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by Cardinal Sin, Oct 16, 2007.

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  1. #1
    Just after some pointers on a small legal issue.

    Say if there is an author of an article and they write it for your site. It gets posted and is an integral part of your site. Then, this author wants to reproduce the document on another site. Do they need our permission? If we say no, can they still use it?

    Just a little unclear, I'm pretty familiar with Intellectual Property law on the whole, but this area seems in a gray area from what I can see. Thanks in advance.
     
    Cardinal Sin, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  2. Lordy

    Lordy Peon

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    #2
    erm, sorry, what does this have to do with donations?

    it all depends on if they signed a TOS when they gave you the article.

    if you have a TOS stating that they relinquish all rights, and you obtain them, then they can post it. otherwise, they still have the rights to the article
     
    Lordy, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  3. Cardinal Sin

    Cardinal Sin Peon

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    #3
    Cause they donate the article to the site for us to use. Sorry, if I was confusing with my title :eek: It may have come out a bit skew-whiff.
     
    Cardinal Sin, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  4. moso

    moso Peon

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    #4
    The author keeps his rights. If you didn't pay for the article, you really can't do anything.
     
    moso, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  5. Colbyt

    Colbyt Notable Member

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    #5
    In almost all cases, "work for hire" excluded, the author retains the copyright ownership and can republish the work elsewhere and/or later.

    For your protection, somewhere in your TOS, you should have the phrases:
    by submitting an article
    the author grants a non-exclusive right to publish
    to sitename......... for a period of time.......... lifetime..... life of site.....

    You can try for better rights than that if you like. I doubt you will get many takers.
     
    Colbyt, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  6. Cardinal Sin

    Cardinal Sin Peon

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    #6
    Thanks for the feedback. Very much appreciated. I will have to look at adding in some loose TOS that enable something like that.

    However, does this mean they can take away something they've wrote for the site?
     
    Cardinal Sin, Oct 16, 2007 IP
  7. Colbyt

    Colbyt Notable Member

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    #7
    Most of the site TOSs that I have read and what I would write in my own would say something like:

    by submitting an article for publication you are granting mydomain the non-exclusive, non-revokable right to publish said article for as long as mydomain, it heirs, assigns or successors are in business. You the author retain full coprights to the article and the article may not be published by mydomain, it heirs, assigns or successors with your byline.

    That is off the top of my head and should be refined before you use it.
     
    Colbyt, Oct 16, 2007 IP