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Original poster

Our comments, in MN books, who owns our collective wisdom?

258 replies

Wotzy · 28/01/2009 22:28

Who owns our comments?

We can request them to be removed from this forum, but not in print. In posting we give consent for them to be on MN on the web, but does that extend to publication in a book.

I am not looking for a fight, it is a serious question, who owns the copyright to our words, if they are in publication? Was there consent to have our collective words printed in a book?

OP posts:
morningpaper · 29/01/2009 20:21

I thought you called me a fuckwit for a moment there

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:20

Oh I see BabyPringle, well yes one would hope so... though we once thought that before and were unpleasantly surprised...

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:18

QS - I don't think so and even if you were we weren't planning on suing.

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:17

Well it's tricky because a lot of quotes are not attributed and that dumbwit MP forgot to make a note of them. But you could pop into Waterstones, flick through a copy, laugh extremely loudly so as to attract the attention of other shoppers, put it incredibly prominently on top of Miriam Stoppard and order a few copies from the man at the desk before rushing home to review it very favourably on Amazon?

QS · 29/01/2009 20:13

errr... Justine? If I have posted my birth story on mumsnet, will I be in breach of copyright laws if I post it elsewhere? Or write about it?

babypringle · 29/01/2009 20:12

Just a thought - even if Mumsnet holds the copyright to submissions, the poster still retains their moral rights and so could claim derogatory treatment/false attribution etc if you include their posts in a book. But I would have thought that the legal dept of your publisher would have some advice on that. I guess the chances of someone actually suing on that basis is pretty slim.

mollyroger · 29/01/2009 20:10

so is there any way of finding out of one's words of wisdom have been used without buying book first...

It's not that I'm a tightwad, more that as i don't have a baby, a toddler or a preschooler, and am poor, I'm not in a position to buy one

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:08

Erm... not since college.

babypringle · 29/01/2009 20:07

JustineMumsnet - have you considered moral rights, as I think they are separate from copyright???

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:06

Duh! have gone, not of gone. (Am having Prosecco at the Towers as it's re-launch night) (shhh! it's YetMoreTech's big secret )

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:04

LadyMuck I made it all up anyway . (though i do have twins and they are now shockingly old)

MNHQ
JustineMumsnet · 29/01/2009 20:03

I don't know where those posts of gone tbh will ask Tech when he next mails me about his dieting regime.

Tamarto let's put it this way - this has been a v useful discussion as it has highlighted that our old and slightly stolen copyright statement probably needs a revamp!

Tinker no I wasn't croppy - think bells was croppy irrr...

LadyMuck · 29/01/2009 20:01

Sorry, didn't mean to dangle that as a clue for a hunt or anything. I think that she has been "outed" previously, but as her children will soon be old enough to come on here and search for her I'll leave it to her as to whether she would want to identify herself....

LadyMuck · 29/01/2009 19:54

Justine is a mother of twins which might help you identify her. I think that there was a change of software/server which deleted many of the first year's posts.

Swedes · 29/01/2009 19:43

Threadworm - I'm pleased you've cleared that up about the Beetle poetry anthology. I was wondering how I might sleep tonight knowing that my poem has been ripped from my breast.

Tinker · 29/01/2009 19:41

Have very early posts from mn been deleted? (Was absent-mindedly searching Justine's "What do you do if your child will only eat jelly")

Can only get back to 28 Feb 2001. C'mon Justine, 'fess up. Were you Croppy?????

Habbibu · 29/01/2009 19:22

Why, hello there, Thready! See my highjack on this thread at 18:52 - can you help?

Threadworm · 29/01/2009 19:18

I'd like to point out to those of you who contributed poems to Beetle: A Life In Verse that intellectual property in the poems you plagiarised composed now lies entirely with The Meadow Hay Home for Genteel Displaced Guinea Pigs.

They may be reproduced by you for a small consideration of lettuce.

LadyMuck · 29/01/2009 18:56

Justine tends to be sued rather than to sue ime. I think that she has more than enough on her plate with this site without having to try to police other sites too.

Habbibu · 29/01/2009 18:52
onebatmother · 29/01/2009 18:22
Tamarto · 29/01/2009 18:09

"This means that ownership transfers from you to Mumsnet Ltd and you may not submit the same material to any other website or printed publication without our prior agreement. "

This is the only thing that held my attention. I post drivel all over the interweb, some of it may or may not be the same drivel that i post on MN, do they really expect people to ask before posting 'god i'm starving' on another site after having posted it here?

Or is it a relic of what was copied in times gone by?

I don't want sued for spouting crap

Justine what say you?

OhBling · 29/01/2009 17:43

No, I am not OneBat.
No idea what you're talking about now.

Lulumama · 29/01/2009 17:39

ok. that would be lovely wotz. my turn to buy the ice cream x

Original poster
wotzy · 29/01/2009 17:37

OneBat, so you and OhBling are two poster? There are too many name changers sorry I can't keep up.

Yes lulu, park sounds good, will email. No fighting over who gets the best swing though!

OP posts: