Copyright infringement & Public Domain

[admin]

It has come to our attention that some members have
been copying whole articles, blog posts, etc. from other websites and pasting it into messages here.

This practice, which is a blatant violation of copyright, must stop now.

If you come across something on another website that you think will be of interest to other members, you may post *the title and author and a short synopsis or description, of 100 words or less, along with the link to the material.

Members who persist in violating copyright will be suspended, then banned if they continue upon their return.

With the exception of certain government websites, all material posted on the Internet is protected by copyright unless copyright is specifically waived by the author.

The above limits will also apply to material in the public domain, except in the case of public domain items that are, in their entirely, less than 300 words.

Thank you for your cooperation.


Oliver

[Buck]

Clarification of net copyrights..........

http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/copynet.htm

http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/copyright-internet.htm

[WRTN]

Oliver,

Can you clarify this more? *It is my understanding that cutting and pasting the entire article WITH credit to the author AND web link to the article and thus crediting the author with the material is not a copyright violation. *It also provides that author with more publicity for their article as well as a source who linked to their article. *Am I incorrect? *This seems to be the standard on pretty much every web forum out there from what I have seen. *I am the administrator for Tractor Forum and never had any complaints about any of our posters, threads, or posts. In fact I have had more than a few contact me thanking me for posting their article or information. * One of the prime reasons I and many others post the entire article or information is that web links change, are withdrawn, or deleted and the information is lost. This is especially true when someone goes back through old posts and finds a link to hard to find information only to discover the link no longer works. I have a website full of them unfortunately. Just wanted to get with the program Thanks. *Randy

[admin]

Clarification of BHM Forum Policy Regarding Cutting & Pasting of Copyrighted and Public Domain Articles and Other Text:

See paragraphs 3 and 6, above.


Oliver

[admin]

Oliver,

Can you clarify this more? It is my understanding that cutting and pasting the entire article WITH credit to the author AND web link to the article and thus crediting the author with the material is not a copyright violation. It also provides that author with more publicity for their article as well as a source who linked to their article. Am I incorrect? This seems to be the standard on pretty much every web forum out there from what I have seen. I am the administrator for Tractor Forum and never had any complaints about any of our posters, threads, or posts. In fact I have had more than a few contact me thanking me for posting their article or information. One of the prime reasons I and many others post the entire article or information is that web links change, are withdrawn, or deleted and the information is lost. This is especially true when someone goes back through old posts and finds a link to hard to find information only to discover the link no longer works. I have a website full of them unfortunately. Just wanted to get with the program Thanks. Randy
Randy,

While I understand your concerns, all of which are valid, posting entire articles deprives both author and original publisher of an interested visitor to their website. It may further deprive them of the opportunity to sell something to that visitor, or to have that visitor click on an ad for which the author may get a few cents to help defray the cost of hosting and maintaining the website.

And even if a website is not currently monetized, it may be in the future.

Further, posting long articles consumes server resources and bandwidth unnecessarily. People who are interested in the details of an article, based on the synopsis, will follow the link and read it. Those for whom the synopsis is sufficient will scroll down to read the comments and conversation about it.

Finally, we understand that other websites have different policies. However, the above limits are what BHM imposes on others who want to reprint articles and columns we have posted online. It would be hypocritical of us to allow folks to do something on our site with the intellectual property of others that we prohibit them from doing on other sites with our intellectual property.

And for those concerned with vanishing links, may I suggest retaining a copy of the original article or web page on your hard drive, or creating a personal archive on one of the many free web hosting sites, which would allow you to change the Forum link should the original ever stop working.

I hope that makes everything clear regarding our policy.


Oliver

[WRTN]

Randy,

While I understand your concerns, all of which are valid, posting entire articles deprives both author and original publisher of an interested visitor to their website. It may further deprive them of the opportunity to sell something to that visitor, or to have that visitor click on an ad for which the author may get a few cents to help defray the cost of hosting and maintaining the website.

And even if a website is not currently monetized, it may be in the future.

Further, posting long articles consumes server resources and bandwidth unnecessarily. People who are interested in the details of an article, based on the synopsis, will follow the link and read it. Those for whom the synopsis is sufficient will scroll down to read the comments and conversation about it.

Finally, we understand that other websites have different policies. However, the above limits are what BHM imposes on others who want to reprint articles and columns we have posted online. It would be hypocritical of us to allow folks to do something on our site with the intellectual property of others that we prohibit them from doing on other sites with our intellectual property.

And for those concerned with vanishing links, may I suggest retaining a copy of the original article or web page on your hard drive, or creating a personal archive on one of the many free web hosting sites, which would allow you to change the Forum link should the original ever stop working.

I hope that makes everything clear regarding our policy.


Oliver

Thanks for the reply Oliver,

I understand your policy and its intended concerns.

I guess what concerns me is that over time links and valuable as well as difficult to find information is deleted or links are deleted and the information is lost permanently.

I can certainly understand that cutting and pasting taken to unreasonable limits can be exasperating as well as eat up band width. In some cases where the information is very useful do you think some exceptions to this policy might be in order?

[cubcadet]

Thanks for the valuable info. I have not, as yet done this, but, nevertheless, it is worthy of serious note. Thanks

[beekeeper]

Aye aye :)

[12vman]

Quote..
"Under the law, copyright protects “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression”, and grants to the copyright holder a set of exclusive rights that last for the life of the author plus fifty years"

I believe everyone should read this..

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/articles/content/1999060401.html

~Don

[Buck]

It's gonna cost you real money to link to any AP story soon.

http://www.betanews.com/article/AP_sets_up_a_toll_booth_for_bloggers_citing_its_st ories/1213720539

[Suzy]

Thanks Oliver! Giving authors more "recognition" and publicity is NOT what most writers need....they need cold hard cash like everybody else!

It's kind of like going to a book store in olden times and walking in and turning to a section of a book you like, copying it on a copier, and sending it to all your friends....you are depriving that author of the livelihood they are entitled to.

Thanks again! (and by the way, I WAS NOT the one who brought this to Oliver's attention!!! But I thank him anyway!)