1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Ownership of content posted on a forum

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by bkerensa, Oct 28, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. #1
    I am wondering what the law says regarding ownership of content that you post on a forum.....

    for instance is everything I post in this post protected under copyright law? Does a forum have to specify in their terms of use that content becomes the property of the forum owner or how does this work?

    My understanding is any unique text that you create and publish regardless of the medium is your copyrighted work the minute it is published......
     
    bkerensa, Oct 28, 2010 IP
  2. AstarothSolutions

    AstarothSolutions Peon

    Messages:
    2,680
    Likes Received:
    77
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    You need to read the T&Cs of the forum that you post to.

    As you have written it the copyright is held by you automatically however most forum's terms and conditions state that by posting on their forum you transfer copyright to them and therefore it becomes their copyright (or in some cases they get shared copyright, but again its all in their terms).

    If the terms dont cover interlectual property rights/ copyright then it remains your own.
     
    AstarothSolutions, Oct 29, 2010 IP
  3. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    Well iNet Interactive which owns Webhostingtalk.com seems to think they own all content a user posts even though they do not have any terms on their site that support such.

    I am gonna give them one more week (business days) to remove all the content at which point I will hire an attorney because my understanding is that not only will they be required to remove the content but I could also seek any profits they made by selling ad space surrounding any copyrighted content they refuse to remove.
     
    bkerensa, Oct 30, 2010 IP
  4. wbear

    wbear Member

    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    #4
    You seem to have missed something:
    http://www.inetinteractive.com/terms/?SiteID=5
     
    wbear, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  5. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    Nope,

    My account existed prior to that revision of the terms and secondly my account was disabled and stopped being used prior to any revision of terms going into effect that transferred or assigned ownership of content to iNet Interactive.

    So essentially iNet Interactive has been using my protected content for almost 6 years now and I have requested removal several times.... Continued use of my content is infringing under the law.
     
    bkerensa, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  6. wbear

    wbear Member

    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    #6
    Why was it disabled?
     
    wbear, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  7. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    That really is a non-issue but the reason it was disabled is because a person I did business with mind you who was 18 at the time decided to make a slew of allegations against me mind you which were never substantiated even though they were very serious in nature and the moderators at WHT decided to side with someone who was using WHT as a platform to assign blame and make criminal accusations which if were true should have been prosecuted or atleast handled in a civil proceeding but instead were not because they had no merit.

    But that is neither here nor there this thread is about trademark and should stay on-topic as the reason for an account being disabled is not basis for content rights being transferred or assigned.
     
    bkerensa, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  8. Mystique

    Mystique Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,579
    Likes Received:
    94
    Best Answers:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    195
    #8
    It's not related but understanding why your account was disabled let us know if there is nothing shady on you side that led to ignore your removal request.

    Are you sure iNet interactive had never such clauses stating ownership? Perhaps a review of them via Archive.org brings something you missed out.
     
    Mystique, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  9. contentboss

    contentboss Peon

    Messages:
    3,241
    Likes Received:
    54
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    good luck with that. You're gonna need it. And DEEEEP pockets.
     
    contentboss, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  10. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #10
    Archive.org supports the fact that they did not have any such clauses.
     
    bkerensa, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  11. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    It's a good thing I have money to hire an attorney and since this is a open and close case summary judgement is almost guaranteed and then they could pay me for infringing on my IP and they can reimburse my attorney costs.
     
    bkerensa, Oct 31, 2010 IP
  12. kindsvater

    kindsvater Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    118
    Digital Goods:
    2
    #12
    This thread is a good example of why forums (and other sites) include licensing terms (not a copyright transfer) regarding forum posts.
     
    kindsvater, Nov 3, 2010 IP
  13. gordonrp

    gordonrp Peon

    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    Interested to see how this turns out. I think you will find yourself losing, as webhostingtalk.com has always been a public forum where people post content for others to read/share. Common sense comes into play here, you submitted to a public forum, it will remain public.
     
    gordonrp, Nov 3, 2010 IP
  14. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #14
    Its to bad their terms did not cover anything regarding licensing of content when I registered or the entire time I used an account with them.
     
    bkerensa, Nov 3, 2010 IP
  15. bkerensa

    bkerensa Peon

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #15
    Newspapers are a public form of media where people post content for others to read and share but it doesnt mean that content can be used by anyone..... there is always terms, licensing agreements and clauses...... Webhostingtalk failed by not covering that when I signed up and while my account was in use.

    Mind you I contacted their parent company iNet Interactive via e-mail, fax, phone, U.S. mail and they have never responded once so it is clear they honestly do not care about legal matters or DMCA issues.
     
    bkerensa, Nov 3, 2010 IP
  16. DWPRank

    DWPRank Guest

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #16
    Good luck to you, if they haven't removed it yet they are not going to. You will need an attorney to move forward, but at what cost?
     
    DWPRank, Nov 4, 2010 IP
  17. contentboss

    contentboss Peon

    Messages:
    3,241
    Likes Received:
    54
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #17
    Complete and utter waste of time / money. Great news for the lawyers, of course.
     
    contentboss, Nov 5, 2010 IP
  18. averyz

    averyz Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,228
    Likes Received:
    167
    Best Answers:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    115
    #18
    Sounds like the lawyer will make some money if you have any and you will walk away with less money.
     
    averyz, Nov 5, 2010 IP
  19. RumpledElf

    RumpledElf Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,054
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    100
    #19
    I subscribe to the theory of the opinions/content etc is owned by the poster BUT they don't have rights to edit/delete it after it is up, which led to an interesting discussion once when someone wanted all their posts removed. Their posts were high quality and contributed to several discussions started by other people. I said I was happy to remove threads they had started or edit posts if there was something specific they wanted removing, but not just wholesale delete their posts as it would break the *conversations*, which were owned by everyone. I'm happy to remove/edit nasty/defamatory/copywrite violation posts etc, and have done so already as I have the kind of forum that can get up people's noses. I don't like people deleting or editing their own posts after the event (after a small grace period) as it can completely change a conversation and can lead to other people's replies looking stupid.

    I figure this is fair, and I think I have words to this effect in the forum terms and conditions in a couple of obvious places on the forum. If people 100% owned their own posts on other forums noone would be allowed to moderate 'bad' posts for fear of copyright suits and trolls would reign supreme.

    Forms tend to be all over the place on whether or not people from outside can copy/paste the content though. The vast majority of them don't have anything specific, and generally once you've put something on a public forum where anyone can read it and it is just a random forum post not a well-researched article it tends to be fair game ...
     
    RumpledElf, Nov 5, 2010 IP
  20. PowerMaker

    PowerMaker Peon

    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #20
    You posted freely for 6 years not requesting any compensation, will not play in your favor. You can't post your free content and then expect to be paid for it unless you clearly stated to the administrators you expect to be paid for your posting. I would let it go as you will most likely only end up with a large legal bill. And asking for all your posts to be deleted after being accused of whatever..will only make it look like you are trying to hide/remove evidence, which may be how iNET may try to spin things.
     
    PowerMaker, Nov 7, 2010 IP
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.