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??

[hi-C]

^ Ditto to everything Zatanna just said.

And, EriaNight, while you do raise valid points, especially when it comes to the wording of cB's terms of service, but I will make these points.

1.

In addition, copyright, in most cases, does not prohibit one from acts such as modifying, defacing, or destroying his or her own legitimately obtained copies of copyrighted works, so long as duplication is not involved. However, in countries that implement moral rights, a copyright holder can in some cases successfully prevent the mutilation or destruction of a work that is publicly visible.

So technically, if you purchase a magazine and scan the image and do whatever you want to do with it, it's not copyright infringement.

2. You also have to take into consideration whether or not the art work under scrutiny complies with the doctrine of fair use. I'm pretty certain that everything submitted to createBlog fits the fair use doctrine.

And when you said you're not being picky, I hardly believe you.

[EriaNight]

^ Ditto to everything Zatanna just said.

And, EriaNight, while you do raise valid points, especially when it comes to the wording of cB's terms of service, but I will make these points.

1.

So technically, if you purchase a magazine and scan the image and do whatever you want to do with it, it's not copyright infringement.

2. You also have to take into consideration whether or not the art work under scrutiny complies with the doctrine of fair use. I'm pretty certain that everything submitted to createBlog fits the fair use doctrine.

And when you said you're not being picky, I hardly believe you.

actually you're wrong. Scanning is considered duplication. By duplicating it and providing it to other people...you broke the law. Sorry to inform you, but its true. I can't change that.

It's basically the same as putting it through a copy machine. Looks the same? Is the same. Promise i'm write. I've had to copyright several things because i'm a screenwriter. You probably won't believe it but whatever...

Also I didn't say you had to erase the database--I Said what the law simply states. Is that you guys cannot SAY That in the terms. You just can't. I can watch you write it, see you lie about it, But You do not in anywaylegally have commerical property over these layouts with images used made by other artists. You just don't and that's that. So change the stupid terms.

I don't care abou the fact that you are breaking the law by giving away free layouts with the stuff I CARE THAT YOU CLAIM YOU CAN USE IT TO MAKE MONEY. For some reason it really really annoys me. CB claims a lot of stuff they really have no claim to make.

Zatanna --you meantioned fansites. A ton of fansites are GIVEN the content they provide by artists (photographers, press for actors/actress, etc). Do your research. See who they credit. You can't assume such.

Madame C you are again wronge about Fair Use seeing as how it applies to NON-LICENSED Material. Why do you think CB won't let people ask where to get music for their blogs? Because many sites don't have the license to do that. BMG has to give people the rights (for many songs) to license the music and use on a website. Same applies to photography only it's the choice of the photographer who took the picture in the scan. You weren't picky enough.