Also IANAL.
Short answer: Only if: a) you refuse to remove it when asked and/or, b) knowingly encouraged it and/or, c) knowingly allowed it to happen and/or, d) are the one who posted it.
Longer answer:
I've been following events along this topic for years and so have some knowledge/understanding of the issues. It is almost impossible to prevent someone from posting copyrighted material. The only way to prevent it is to not allow anyone to post anything. The legal precedents for posted copyrighted material is that the host is required to remove the material when he/she/they become aware of it. Save yourself some headaches and add to your usage guidelines that any copyrighted material posted by anyone other than the owner of the copyright will be removed and that repeat offenders will be banned. This serves to PYA from knowingly encouraging copyright offences. Secondly, if you know of any copyrighted material posted on a forum you run, delete it. Don't wait for the copyright owner to contact you. Generally, your IP provider or possibly you and the IP provider will get a takedown letter from some lawyer acting on behalf of the copyright owner demanding you remove the content. Also, the reprinting of small sections of copyright material are generally protected from prosecution under "fair use" rules. However, if you are reproducing copyrighted material on a site that might generate income you may fall outside that "fair use" category. Whenever in doubt get written permission from the copyright holder (not necesarily the same as the author) BEFORE posting copyrighted material. If the copyright holder cannot be found the safest approach is to err on the side of caution and not post it. Lastly, you usage policy should also state that anything they post they are giving you explicit copyright or free perpetual usage rights to such material, so that they can't come back at some later time and blackmail you for continued use of content.
Brian D.
--- Jonathan Hutchins [email protected] wrote:
On Saturday 04 June 2005 12:50 pm, Josh Charles wrote:
Does anyone know if you are running a forum and
someone posts
copyrighted material if you can be held
responsible for that content?
I believe current practice is that if notified, you must delete the materiel if possible. Other than that, you're not liable. (IANL, consult one or go to jail.) _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list [email protected] http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
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