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??

[add1cted2f1re]

omg people. what she is trying to say is that yes, at Hitherston she takes pictures that she DIDNT take and can turn them into blends, YES... but she doesnt get money for it from ads on her site that visitors click...


does that make sense?

[*mzkandi*]

Awwww...someone sounds mad.....

[hi-C]

But then, your forum isn't big enough to warrant by-laws. And so what if we want community input in how the community is governed.

[EriaNight]

DaTru KataLYST----we did give a reference....go back to the first page. There are like 5. Also you can go to the main copyright site if you REALLY want to look through all that, but Retrogressive and I have provided several things to look at on the first page.

[add1cted2f1re]

But then, your forum isn't big enough to warrant by-laws. And so what if we want community input in how the community is governed.

that doesnt make ANY sense....

[*mipadi*]

Question: Is anyone here a copyright lawyer?

Copyright law is a fairly murky area, especially since it has changed a bit in the past couple of years (especially in the realm of digital IP). If the administrators of cB feel that the terms are possibly invalid or illegal, I suggest they speak to a copyright lawyer who can sort it out for them. Until then, I feel that any analysis by a person who is not an expert in the field is nothing but speculation.

[EriaNight]

DaTru KataLYST----we did give a reference....go back to the first page. There are like 5. Also you can go to the main copyright site if you REALLY want to look through all that, but Retrogressive and I have provided several things to look at on the first page.

madame c

But then, your forum isn't big enough to warrant by-laws. And so what if we want community input in how the community is governed.

Who is to determine how big a forum has to be to have by laws? My brother has a game server ....he doesn't need by laws. And I don't need imput, no, on TC-F, why? Because i actually spend time with the people on there getting to know them personally, talking to them IRL, and online and they tell me directly what we need done. I'm sure you can call CB a big forum since many of its users never come back.....Kind of like I bet you guys hope i'll do.....*tear*

Finally Mipadi is here!! Hey!! They should talk to at least SOMEONE. That was why i brought it up. But my mother has to deal with copyright all the time considering she's a recording engineer and runes a website as does my brother own a server.....So I felt a need to bring it up.

[EriaNight]

Are you really trying to compare TC and Hitherson to cB?
When your forum gets over 200,000 members, see if you need a by-laws section.

NO. I'm trying to point out that i really don't CARE what you think about TC, Hitherston, CB and its 200,00 half non-existant members. That's not the ISSUE

[*Libertie*]

Good thing We accepted it already.........*raised eyebrow* You should read OUR TERMS first. and it DOES matter if you are a commercial site. and by the way everything paid for where hitherston is concerned comes out of my brothers OWN POCKET not a GOOGLE advertisement. Learn to work for a living.

My forum and Hitherston doesn't need a by laws section to govern itself.

That's a low blow and it was completely unnecessary. I think it'd be easier for you to get your point across if you weren't taking cheap shots and getting upset.

I'm not arguing with you at all, perhaps you bring up some points that should be considered, but it's all in the way you present those points. You see? Getting mad only makes people mad in return.

[Retrogressive]

Okay, first of all. This thread is not to bring the forum I co-own into question. We all do the best we can, with things. This thread is to discuss copyright issues that could cost CB to get sued. Instead of personally attacking (which is on both sides mind you) let's discuss it maturely. Because this is for the betterment of CB and is NOT ment to be some kind of war.

Also, Molly is right as far as I know about the magazine scans. It's common knowledge in the 'zining world that you can get into BIG trouble by collaging or using magazine scans (especially if you're getting money for it.)

Gigi, thank's for bringing that to my attention =)

Now let's talk about how we can make CB a better place.

[hi-C]

^ But we're not getting money for it.

[*mipadi*]

Alright, let's stop sniping at each other.

I'm going to bring up my earlier point: Copyright law is not a simple area per se. Unless someone here is an expert in the field, anything is merely speculation or an attempt at analysis of a complex law.

If the administrators of cB are worried this might be an issue, they'd best take advice from a copyright/IP lawyer, not from a bunch of people on a forum.

[technicolour]

* Napster *

We should take this to the supreme court about now.

[*mzkandi*]

EXACTLY....

[EriaNight]

That's a low blow and it was completely unnecessary. I think it'd be easier for you to get your point across if you weren't taking cheap shots and getting upset.

I'm not arguing with you at all, perhaps you bring up some points that should be considered, but it's all in the way you present those points. You see? Getting mad only makes people mad in return.

Um Please try to understand that i have basically 5 mods yelling at me because they "can't" admit that CB is breaking the law. I don't HATE CB. I Think you guys should realize what you get yourselves into with the terms instead of YELLING at me. YES i get mad, YES i AM mad, why? Because i have 5 people yelling at me telling me how they are right right right. And right now only a few people here have actually said anything substantial to change the situation--Mipadi, retrogressive, and Matt. Not because they side with me. No, in fact many times they have disagreed--but because they aren't trying to bring OTHER FORUMS into the conversation.

[*mzkandi*]

Alright!! Enough!!! We will have the admins and Jusun look into this issue. For right now I'm closing this because none of yall are experts and it's getting mad childish up in here.