Copyright Infringement, You might want to Check your Terms of Service... Options

[EriaNight]

Alright it is pretty obvious to me and to most of the world that the content (graphics, blogs, about 75% of everything CB has uses stock photos of actors/actresses/singers/people/etc that the artists didn't take).

This would be all find and dandy and no one would care If a few of us (not mentioning names so people won't get pissed at us) hadn't realized a Few things in the CB submission process.

You guys promote artist right?
And art?

Here is a nice definition of what Copyright Infringment is from Wikipedia

Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it....In many jurisdictions, such as the United States, copyright infringement is a strict liability tort or crime.

I Know what CB says about it. For those who do NOT know what CB says about Copyright Infridgement....here it is

CreateBlog respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. CreateBlog may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who may be repeat infringers. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide CreateBlog's Copyright Agent the following information:

* an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
* a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
* a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
* your address, telephone number, and email address;
* a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
* a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner's behalf.

Please email claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement to copyright at createblog dot com.

Now why am I mad? No one really cares if you aren't making money on any of the submissions. I wouldn't either. And you probably aren't. Only differences in the submission TERMSthere is are a few lines that strictly you just can't legally say.

For example...

By posting or submitting content to CreateBlog, you grant CreateBlog the right to use, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, modify, distribute, have distributed, and promote the content in any form, anywhere and for any purpose; and warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content and that public posting and use of your content by CreateBlog will not infringe or violate the rights of any third party.

If you contribute layouts, scripts, graphics, tutorials, creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, or other information (collectively, the "Submissions"), the Submissions shall be deemed, and shall remain, the property of CreateBlog. None of the Submissions shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of CreateBlog, and CreateBlog shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Submissions. Without limitation of the foregoing, CreateBlog shall exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions of every kind and nature throughout the universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Submissions.

Everything in Red you cannot claim without legally breaking the law. No Person who took the photographs of Rachel Bilson, Kiera Knightley, etc used in about half the layouts ever agreed to these terms! All the layouts with pictures of actors/actresses/etc taken by other people....CANNOT be used commercially no matter what you say! If you want to use the commercially, even if you ask the creator of the layout, that person cannot give you the permission.

I'm not trying to be picky or mean. And most of you will probably shout me down. But CB, you cannot do that. If you support a community of artists, then support the people who actually HAVE it as a JOB and don't say you have commerial rights that you definitely do not have. Sure the "creators of the layout" agreed to this, but you KNOW they probably couldn't really and legally agree to it. I know you don't want to be sued and i definitely couldn't sue you and wouldn't because i don't have the time nor really care, but It's wrong to claim that you have commerical rights over something you don't. I bet the reason the layouts aren't even used as "promotional" material is because you know you could get sued.

I'm not trying to be mean. In fact, I'd rather not be. And I understand as an admin on another forum and runner of a graphics site with 2 other CB members that it takes work and time. I just think you should change your terms a little so that your MEMBERS don't get in TROUBLE with the law??

[sadolakced acid]

what cB can do is put the responsibility on the individual.

personally, i don't see too much of a problem with saying that all submissions to cB remain the property of thier authors and can be removed if requested.

and then put in a checkbox on layout submissions that says "i verify that this layout is of my design and i do not violate any copyright laws in submitting this."

sure, people will still check it. but it does take the liability off of cb.

[Retrogressive]

what cB can do is put the responsibility on the individual.

personally, i don't see too much of a problem with saying that all submissions to cB remain the property of thier authors and can be removed if requested.

and then put in a checkbox on layout submissions that says "i verify that this layout is of my design and i do not violate any copyright laws in submitting this."

sure, people will still check it. but it does take the liability off of cb.

I really think this, or something like it should be taken in consideration.

To refresh everyone, these are CB's basic terms:

Basic Terms

* You must be 13 years and older to use this site.
* You are responsible for any activity that occurs under your screen name.
* You are responsible for keeping your password secure.
* You must not abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate other CreateBlog users.
* You may not use the CreateBlog.com service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.
* You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, screen names, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links ("Content") that you submit, post, and display on the CreateBlog.com service.
* You must not modify, adapt or hack CreateBlog.com or modify another website so as to falsely imply that it is associated with CreateBlog.com.
* You must not create or submit unwanted email to any CreateBlog members ("Spam").
* You must not transmit any worms or viruses or any code of a destructive nature.
* You must not, in the use of CreateBlog, violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws).
* You may not redistribute, sell, or repost for download any Content found on CreateBlog on any medium (CD-Rom, website, etc) without the expressed written permission of CreateBlog.
* You must not remove the copyright notices inside each Content. **A copyright I'm not sure if CB technically has...
* Violation of any of these agreements will result in the termination of your CreateBlog.com account. While CreateBlog.com prohibits such conduct and content on its site, you understand and agree that CreateBlog cannot be responsible for the Content posted on its web site and you nonetheless may be exposed to such materials and that you use the CreateBlog.com service at your own risk.