Who owns copyright on forum posts?
 

Who owns copyright on forum posts? (any type of discussion board, not just GFY!).

Any ideas? :)

Who says they are copyrighted? Most likely the forum owner would own all contents of the forum posts. You would have to read the TOS :2 cents:

Acacia will own it anytime soon since you've said it.

lol I DO

'can't believe no on said that lol'

Common law.

Anything that an individual writes or publishes is automatically copyrighted to that person.

Transference of the copyright is a completely different subject alltogether.

Regards,

Lee

Found this document: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

Interesting stuff :)

Question is, what rights does the FORUM OPERATOR have? :)

Non.

Unless you specifically agreed to transfer your rights to the forum owner at the time of joining.

Regards,

Lee

Then statements such as " Powered by VBulletin - Design and all content ?2000-2004, AP Net Marketing, Inc. and ICS Inc." are kinda misleading I'd say :)

Not at all.

Thats basically telling you that AP Net Marketing in this instance own the copyright to all material posted on GFY.

The fact that you found it after you joined has nothing to do with it.

Of course if you were under 18 then you are free to distribute anything you want that you post on GFY because you cant legally enter a contract under the age of 18 without a parents consent.

But thats a completely different matter again, GFY is riddled with legal loopholes should the need to use them ever arise.

If in doubt however, speak to an attorney.

Regards,

Lee

I may be incorrect, but given what I've read about the copyright laws and how it pertains to the internet, it goes something like this...

Wherever the original work or the "earliest established date" is created is who owns the copyright.

Thanks for the replies. I'm off to bed now.. Can't even think anymore. Good night :thumbsup

Actually you can (every time you bought something from a shop under the age of 18, you were entering into a type of contract), but the reason you'd find it hard to get a credit card/bank loan/enter into a business contract etc under the age of 18 is because it's more problematic to prosecute or sue someone under the age of 18.

Which was the point i was making in this instance.

Regards,

Lee

Design and all content ?2000-2004, AP Net Marketing, Inc. and ICS Inc.

Lens owns all the gfy ones.