Legality on reproducing posts

[VictorianSqualor]

Hi MNHQ.
Just a quick one, I'm sure you'll know the answer to.
Can I legally put a post someone else has made on a forum onto my blog?
It's not this forum btw, and the post would be a printscreen with the name and picture scrubbed out.

[VictorianSqualor]

bump

[MrVibrating]

I don't think MNHQ will be able to answer for a different site. Wouldn't it be better to ask the administrator of the forum, or just look at the copyright notice? Which will probably say 'no'.

Why not just post a link?

[VictorianSqualor]

MNHQ will know if legally someone can reproduce something from a forum.
I can't link as the posts in question are no longer there.

[zippitippitoes]

well either the site will have retained copyright over the posts like they do on here

or the writer will

[MrVibrating]

I am in awe at the omniscience of MNHQ regarding the asserted intellectual property rights of unidentified third parties

[VictorianSqualor]

They had to go through it all though didn't they? All the legalities about posts on a site, with the GF thing.

[SaintGeorge]

The legalities of who was liable, if anyone, for libel.

That isn't what you are asking, you need to know about copyright.

That will vary from forum to forum, depending on their T & Cs.

[RTKangaMummy]

So what about what the newspapers do when they copy our posts with out our permission?

[AnarchyAunt]

It says on their T&C (link at the very bottom of homepage) that they own copyright and you may not copy, publish, distribute etc.

The newspapers will get permission from MNHQ as they will hold the copyright - I guess anyway.

[VictorianSqualor]

So every time one of does

By AnarchyAunt on Fri 03-Oct-08 19:26:46
It says on their T&C (link at the very bottom of homepage) that they own copyright and you may not copy, publish, distribute etc.

The newspapers will get permission from MNHQ as they will hold the copyright - I guess anyway.

that
are we breaking copyright?

[AnarchyAunt]

Erm... possibly. Technically.

We could always ask That Place for permission

Or maybe not.

[zippitippitoes]

normally a website will hold copyright of material on the site

[AnarchyAunt]

I think its one of those things that nobody worries about unless they are Out To Get You iyswim? Everyone's always C&Ping stuff from other websites or forums - eg the NetMums weaning info - and its not a problem.

But it can be a big stick for the site to wave if you are using stuff in a way they don't like.

[onager]

I figure most places don't care unless you are duplicating their content entirely so visitors don't need to go to their site.

So if you post part of an interesting article for example with a link to go to the original place (if it still exists) most consider that fair enough.

Make sure you have a notice somewhere saying "email me here if anything breaches copyright and I will remove it" or similar

[VictorianSqualor]

Ah, good point onager, Hunker has that on her blog from something she copied from the NCT, I hadn't thought about that. Thanks.

[Aero]

Interesting thread - I'd like to know too as I've been quoted more than once in the last few weeks on various websites regarding dh's current work situation and in the end I felt I had to ask for my thread to be deleted due to press interest!

[swampster]

I think you can argue that copying a small excerpt to illustrate a point constitutes fair use, so quoting someone's post (e.g. to an online forum such as this) in an article or a blog without the copyright-holder's permission shouldn't be a problem.

[VictorianSqualor]

That's basically what I want to do swampster.
My blog is about weaning, a certain forum has tons of posters weaning at anything from 2 weeks. I want to reproduce some of their posts on my blog to show how early some people are weaning and the arguments they are using.

[swampster]

Copyright Law: Understanding Fair Use - any help?