Copyright Violations

Don't paste other people's work and claim it as yours

from JoeUser Forums
We've been noticing an increasing tendancy of people to simply go and take a well known columnist's writings and simpy copy and paste the entire thing and submit it as their blog entry here on JoeUser.com.

That violates the original author's copyright. You can use pieces of someone's article as part of your own article, that is known as "fair use". But you can't just wholesale copy someone else's work and submit it as your blog entry. Not only it is unethical but it creates a potential liability problem for the site.

If someone has written an article you strongly relate to, LINK to it. That is the nature of the web. Don't just repost what they've written. In the future, we will begin to remove articles that violate copyright (or edit them to link to the original source). Make your blog site your blog site, not a mirror of someone else's. Or alternatively, email the author and ask for permission to redistribute their article.
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36,522 views 63 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
two questions:

1. Is any article that I write and submit to this site still my IP or does it belong the property of JoeUser.com?

2. If I were to find my article copied and pasted on another website somewhere on the web without my permission, would JoeUser.com act to defend my IP rights just as Wincustomize.com protects the IP rights of its skinners?
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
*1. Is any article that I write and submit to this site still my IP or does it become the property of JoeUser.com?
SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Tech: Is it Wincusto that pursues theft or is it the regulars? I was aware that Jafo and a few others banded together, but when they notify a site does WC underwrite it?

It comes down to whether Wincusto and JoeUser are places designed for artists and writers to store their material, or if they are actively managing the material itself. I think what Jafo and the rest do is great, but I have my doubts that JoeUser could undertake the active management of material.

I assume all the material uploaded belongs solely to the writer. I haven't seen any upload agreement otherwise, so until we agree to give something away it remains ours.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
The so-called nature of the internet is mass republication of columns on many and various sites world-wide. Fair use practices are common and generally understood to be that reposting is acceptable as long as the article is unedited and includes the name of the author and any available copyright information. A sample fair use notice:

"This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner."
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
"reposting is acceptable as long as the article is unedited and includes the name of the author and any available copyright information"

Not so. "Excerpts" are acceptable, but in terms of mass publication you have to cite a reasonable amount and leave it at that. The only terms under which Fair Use applies to reproducing entire works is for use by librarians and educators.

"Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances. See FL 102, Fair Use, and Circular 21, Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians. "

U.S. Copyright Office


That, even, is dangerous territory, because many dramatic and items of curricula require you to buy a license to use/reproduce.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I don't see anything about fair use that permits the complete reproduction of copyrighted material. From theYale site (as well as the EFF site), fair use is determined by: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
Tech Cat an author always retains the rights of what they write no matter where it is published.

The only time that WC itself goes after a copyright violation is if it involves Stardock copyrighted material. We can delete infringements if they are on our site, but we have no right to uphold an artists copyright on another site.

Copying an online article is no different than photocopying a page out of a book. Neither fall in "fair use". They are both against copyright law.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Personally I don't care about legality of it. I just think it's lame when someone posts 2 lines of personal opinion and then 2 pages of someone else's words. Aren't you kind of wasting your own time at that point. This is a BLOG site not a message board.

Personally i wish JoeUser would nix the whole "forum" thing, I think it takes away from blogging.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Think about it, though. If it wasn't restricted to "limited portions of a work", then all you would have to do to pirate music, books, whole magazines, single articles, etc., is to include a solid, professional review with the pirated copy, then claim the content was there for reference.

If that were true, I could record a 30 second review and tag it onto any MP3 I wanted and put Kazaa to work for me.

JeremyG: Without the messageboards you'd have people treating your blog like a messageboard. It is good to have a less formal atmosphere for discussion, I think.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
The policy is the same as what we have at WinCustomize.com. The articles posted are property of the user. JoeUser.com claims no ownership of people's works. Which is one reason why it's important that people own (i.e. create) what they put up. Fair use is one thing, but reposting someone else's work isn't just wrong, it's illegal.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

BTW, we're willing to bend very far in favor of fair use.

But at a certain point a line is definitely crossed. When people start to post the entire article someone else has written with nothing added themselves, it becomes a problem.

If we started taking say Salon.com's content and reposting it here in full I suspect we would hear from their attorneys in a hurry. There's a lot of leeyway we'll give if the blogger is at least adding a reasonable amount of content to what they post.  But i've seen full articles written by someone else simply posted without a word added to it. At best, it's copyright violation, at worst, it's point whoring and illegal (creating new blogs with content from professional columnists to rack up points).

Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
Brad Wardell- On the subject of copyright and ownership, JoeUser.com claims no ownership to what we write, but what is the situation with the comments on our articles? Do the comments become kind of like emails to us and are they definitely our property as well?
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
The nature of an open site such as this is for converstaion regarding various issues. To post a story for information purposes for others to see and then for a group to have discussion about is clearly legal within fair use guidelines. the above post regarding 'educatiors and libnrearians' was in specific reference to educators and librarians. There are many, many sites on the web that do only the reposting of columns, most without comments, all within the guidelines of fair use.

If the real issue is more of one regarding storage space on JoeUser then it should be discussed that way and not be put out as some kind of copyright infringement.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 1 > Sec. 107.

Sec. 107. - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -

(1)

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2)

the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3)

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4)

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
What's so hard about discussing a story that is linked to? People can always click on links to stories and still discuss it on this site.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
Also, where does it say that one can post full copyrighted articles without permission?
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
Brad Wardell- On the subject of copyright and ownership, JoeUser.com claims no ownership to what we write, but what is the situation with the comments on our articles? Do the comments become kind of like emails to us and are they definitely our property as well?


I'm not really sure. JoeUser.com doesn't claim ownership of any articles or comments though.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
jeff allison : No. posting the entirety of an article is copyright infringement without permission. See the third part of your quote:

"the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and..."

That means you take into consideration the amount used to decide whether something is legitimatly 'Fair use'. No where does it say that you can use the work as a whole.
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
The nature of an open site such as this is for converstaion regarding various issues. To post a story for information purposes for others to see and then for a group to have discussion about is clearly legal within fair use guidelines. the above post regarding 'educatiors and libnrearians' was in specific reference to educators and librarians. There are many, many sites on the web that do only the reposting of columns, most without comments, all within the guidelines of fair use.

If the real issue is more of one regarding storage space on JoeUser then it should be discussed that way and not be put out as some kind of copyright infringement.


If I post articles in full from Time Magazine here, you can be assured that their lawyers would contact us if they had a problem. I am not aware of any sites that knowingly allow copyrighted articles from other sites to be posted on there. It's essentially warez. In skinning we call it ripping. If someone wants to just repost other people's articles, JoeUser.com is not the place for them. This is a blog site for people to write their OWN stuff.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Brad, I got a comment once that said something like "Steven, you write well enough, why do you have to copy stuff from Kennedy?" I had been advised in building my websites [Yahoo, Tripod, Angelfire] that I use the copyright notice on each article, story or poem I submit. So I assumed it was the same for blogsites. Let me know if I can discontinue this practice for JoeUser. [Kennedy]
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top
Steven - I think you putting a (c) by your articles is a good thing because it sends a clear message to others that "Hey, this is my stuff." and that you take pride in your well written articles.
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
In the college I'm currently attending, plagiarization is a very serious offense. First one: major warning and F in class it happened, second time? F in class, and banned from Clark college forever.
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
This is too funny_when all arguments FAIL...start a copyright violation bust...Too close to the truth for comfort? I post articles to shed another light on a given situation. Have I violated JoeLoser terms?
You know_BRAD since you are so Fucking important around here_and know foreign policy and human rights issues_ better than anyone, you and your cronies had best just IP ban me, I know what fair use is have not broken some invented law of yours... And if you wish not to comment on the particular, then don't. Next I am posting an article from TIME so hurry up and play President/.
Perhaps you should just require all Brad Wardell Blog participants to agree to think and believe as you do before signing on at Joe Loser.
I think its hilarious_the truth hurts doesn't it................want some more?
Adios kind and funny people among you.
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
E- Macys is acting like a kook who is filled with seething rage and malcontentism.

My guess on this issue is that a repost is OK only if you give credit to the author, post only a portion of the article, and then link to the rest.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top
E. Macy: are you really, really vain, or is there some reason that you think he is talking to you?

It isn't a made up law. As a matter of fact many sites don't even allow having exclusive content deep-linked, much less carried off to other sites. Copyright is about an author being able to choose who can reproduce their work, and how it is presented. When anyone posts whole articles, they go beyond fair use and deny them that right.

I'm not sure how that is a 'Brad' issue.