DrJohn Wrote:I think in a law suit, turnitin.com would have a difficult time supporting their claim of complete and exclusive license, depending on what is being argued. They may have limited exclusive license to use your paper for the terms of making their service stronger or more complete.

I haven't been following it, but there was a major lawsuit against turnitin. The main cause of action was different, the students were suing because the site uploaded their work into a database and then used that database for a for profit venture. I don't remember the result of the lawsuit, but I think the student lost.

Come to think of it, instantcert does something similar. The exam specific forum provided free by test takers and locked down to non instantcert members. I remember when I suspended my account, I couldn't even view my own posts and would have to pay to view them, I in essense turned over my intellectual property to instantcert.

Prloko Wrote:I haven't been following it, but there was a major lawsuit against turnitin. The main cause of action was different, the students were suing because the site uploaded their work into a database and then used that database for a for profit venture. I don't remember the result of the lawsuit, but I think the student lost.

Come to think of it, instantcert does something similar. The exam specific forum provided free by test takers and locked down to non instantcert members. I remember when I suspended my account, I couldn't even view my own posts and would have to pay to view them, I in essense turned over my intellectual property to instantcert.

(clearly, I hope the previous answer about your own papers in college has been put to rest- no question there at all)
I wonder if anyone is interested in finding out about how the copyright law applies to this? I know when I wrote my book, I was tempted BUT DIDN'T use some of the info from a few of my previous posts that was "already" written down. Without checking, I assumed my words belonged to degree forum even though I wrote them, because they were published here. Equally, I have never taken info directly from here that other people wrote and used it (minus a few links I've shared on Facebook for good resources). But if you do a Google search, you'll get hits into this forum. Our words ARE out there. Also, I have ALWAYS been very careful (and I think all members are) not to share the pay-content in the free-forum. I think we all "get" that part of infringement. In the digital age, it takes 5 seconds to find infringement. I have digital textbooks and can find exact phrases in seconds.

cookderosa Wrote:(clearly, I hope the previous answer about your own papers in college has been put to rest- no question there at all)
I wonder if anyone is interested in finding out about how the copyright law applies to this? I know when I wrote my book, I was tempted BUT DIDN'T use some of the info from a few of my previous posts that was "already" written down. Without checking, I assumed my words belonged to degree forum even though I wrote them, because they were published here. Equally, I have never taken info directly from here that other people wrote and used it (minus a few links I've shared on Facebook for good resources). But if you do a Google search, you'll get hits into this forum. Our words ARE out there. Also, I have ALWAYS been very careful (and I think all members are) not to share the pay-content in the free-forum. I think we all "get" that part of infringement. In the digital age, it takes 5 seconds to find infringement. I have digital textbooks and can find exact phrases in seconds.

I agree. I don't remember what the TOS were, but I'm sure by using degreeforum's service I signed away the rights to my content. At least that's pretty much the standard format of these TOS.

I'm pretty sure you have not signed away your IP rights by posting on a forum. I would have no qualms taking something I have written here and using it somewhere else.

Wait a sec. If it's your feedback on DF, DF owns it? I was thinking of putting up my test feedback as a test study help on my blog :confused: Can I read these ToS somewhere?

I don't have any problem with IC locking my posts in the SEF; I know I have to pay to see any of that. But as it's my property, I also would think I could post it wherever else I want. For example, all my test feedback is also posted in the free forums. And I've seen others who post the same feedback on their blog and also in the SEF.

Daithi Wrote:I'm pretty sure you have not signed away your IP rights by posting on a forum. I would have no qualms taking something I have written here and using it somewhere else.

That's my feeling.

Westerner Wrote:Wait a sec. If it's your feedback on DF, DF owns it? I was thinking of putting up my test feedback as a test study help on my blog :confused: Can I read these ToS somewhere?

I don't have any problem with IC locking my posts in the SEF; I know I have to pay to see any of that. But as it's my property, I also would think I could post it wherever else I want. For example, all my test feedback is also posted in the free forums. And I've seen others who post the same feedback on their blog and also in the SEF.


That's my feeling.

Well, put it this way. If we didn't give up ownership, then DF owes anyone who posted in the specific feedback forum monetary compensation since they are making money from our writings and test experience. I personally stopped posting in the specific feedback for this reason, but I'm not going to seek any money. I received more than enough compensation in my ability to finish my degree easily.

But like I said, I don't remember what I agreed to, but I'm sure the TOS will be changed going forward after this. We'll see.

Daithi Wrote:I'm pretty sure you have not signed away your IP rights by posting on a forum. I would have no qualms taking something I have written here and using it somewhere else.

I'm referring to the specific feedback forum. If you stop paying the fees, you have zero access to what you typed unless you saved it previously (with the exception of what you stored in your brain).

Edit: I found this on Vbulletin's TOS (I don't know what Instantcert's specific policy is).

[h=2]Intellectual Property[/h]You represent and warrant that (i) you own the content Posted by you on or through the Forum or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth below in the subsequent paragraph, and (ii) the Posting of your content does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person.
By displaying or posting content on the Forum, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty free, perpetual, global license to publish the content submitted by you to the Forum. You also grant us global nonexclusive adaptation and resale rights over any content and material submitted to vBulletin.com. These nonexclusive publishing license and resale/adaptation rights extend to any materials submitted "for publication" within vBulletin.com, including both message board postings and content submitted for uploading and subsequent publishing within non-message board portions of vBulletin.com. Neither we nor our staff or agents will be responsible for any misleading, false or otherwise injurious information and advice communicated on vBulletin.com or for any results obtained from the use of such information or advice. We will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by a user through the user’s reliance on information and advice gained through user-generated content posted on vBulletin.com.

Yeah, I wasn't really addressing the specific feedback forum in my comment. I just meant that in general, posting on a forum doesn't cost you your rights to your IP. Maybe if you clicked on some Terms of Use agreement when signing up for forum, and you explicitly gave away these rights, but even then the owner of the forum would probably have a hard time enforcing this agreement. None of this implies that a forum owner needs to grant you access to a paid forum if you stop paying. Additionally, even Vbulletin's TOS doesn't try to prevent you from reposting your IP elsewhere.

Daithi Wrote:Additionally, even Vbulletin's TOS doesn't try to prevent you from reposting your IP elsewhere.

Actually, if you read through the legalize, its not saying you own it necessarily, but that it doesn't belong to someone else already so you have rights to sign it over to vbulletin.

Actually, I believe the legalese is saying that you can only post your own material and that they have the right to use and republish anything you post on their forum, but you are only granting them "nonexclusive" use, so you aren't giving up your rights to your IP.

BTW, congratulations on the promotion to Baron. I wondered what would happen when you got to 400 posts.