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Hi just wondered if any of you knew the legalities involved with copyright on public forums?

I'm presuming anything written can be copied/quoted and can be used without permission as any writings are in the public domain?

Just want to be sure.

Thanks for any info

Bob

You're free to use anything I post, but donations are welcome

Interested to hear what is the true legality of it

Our statement is "All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owners. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest (c) 2002-2006 by AutoWebMedia"

The only copyright notice I can find on the site is "All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owners. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest (c) 2002-2005 by AutoWebMedia."

My interpretation :-

The logos and trademarks are the property of their owners (whether registered or not) - straightforward.

The comments made belong to whoever posted them - I'll come back to this.

All the rest (ie the site layout, design, functionality, etc) belong to AutoWebMedia - also clear.

As regards comments made by posters, whilst they may be the property of the person who posted them, the poster would normally only have copyright in those comments if he/she claims such copyright when posting (a simple "(c) 2006 Clive Harper" would do). Furthermore, in order to qualify for copyright protection, the comments would have to amount to "a work" (ie not the sort of drivel I usually come out with ). So , for example, a "how to" type posting would qualify (accompanied by a suitable copyright claim), whereas general comments, views, opinions, etc would normally not.

As far as what's not mentioned :-

The copyright of any documents posted on the site should be respected, and permission sought from the respective authors to copy or circulate.

The site contains many links to other sites and information (both generally and within threads) and the copyright of the information in those links should also be observed.

My 2p - interested to read others' views.

No copyright claimed in this work of art...!

Sorry Phil - you posted while I was writing...

Thanks guys - It's really the specific words that people write that I was interested in, for inclusion in a book. I presumed that posters would have to specify if they wanted to maintain copyright.


Thanks

I agree Bob, no copyright in that, but it might be worth just asking the authors if they have any objections?

CliveH wrote:I agree Bob, no copyright in that, but it might be worth just asking the authors if they have any objections?

Very true. If it's to go in a book it would be curtious to ask the poster permission before "quoting" their words

MarkB wrote:

CliveH wrote:I agree Bob, no copyright in that, but it might be worth just asking the authors if they have any objections?

Very true. If it's to go in a book it would be curtious to ask the poster permission before "quoting" their words

Any content from this site should also be authorised for use by AutoWebMedia (RS246).

PhilT wrote: Any content from this site should also be authorised for use by AutoWebMedia (RS246).

but "The comments are property of their posters, all the rest (c) 2002-2006 by AutoWebMedia"...

confused (well least I am, but that's easily done )

Can you please clarify Phil

I'm no legal eagle, but IMHO the comments are the property of the posters (i.e. you are responsible for what you post), and AutoWebMedia owns the copyright on the site content.

So even though you may have submitted content that is printed in a publication, the publication still owns the copyright.