20 replies
I thought the ... website was a 2.0 website, so I posted a blog about eating healthy with celiac disease. She has like a kazillion recipes on there that are gluten free....

So, they rejected my blog.

I decided to read again their TOS, and this is what got to me. I won't be posting on there again...

If you do send us any creative materials, including creative suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts or other information or if you transmit to the Site by electronic mail or otherwise, communications including any data, questions, comments, suggestions, or the like (collectively, the "Information"), the Information shall be deemed, and shall remain, the property of *** World. None of the Information shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of *** World and *** World shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any Information. *** World shall exclusively own any now known or hereafter existing rights to the Information of every kind and nature throughout the universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Information for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Information.
So, I'm reading that once you post on this site, the information becomes THEIRS???
#tos #unbelievable
  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    It looks like that is what they are saying.

    About a year ago I saw an Ad for a business idea generating seminar to be held at one of the universities here in my area. I was already to sign up, but first decided to read their "Policy Page."

    It was all fine-print that I suspect most people didn't wade through. Fortunately I'm a little weird and do read these things. Whoa Nellie, their policy was that any business ideas and concepts generated at the seminar by people in the audience would become the property of the group presenting the seminar!

    Needless to say, I quickly clicked away.

    This nonsense is out there.

    Oh oh, look at the number of my posts. My next post will be from hades. :-)

    :-Don
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237076].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author pbennett
      so is it ok for me to post the name of the site so we don't go there???
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237082].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Run that wording through Bing (or Google if you still use it) and you'll see that thousands of sites use that same disclaimer.

      It could be that a lot of them are just copying and pasting a TOS from another site and using it as their own.

      It's definitely something to be concerned about, but you also need to keep in mind that it may be there to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits, as much as they can anyway.

      Imagine you submit an article to them on Baking Cayenne-Chocolate Cake. They reject it.

      A few months from now, they post a similar article on baking a cayenne-chocolate cake. You say, Hey, that was my idea!

      Now, it could be completely coincidental that they published this article. Someone else may have submitted it and, for whatever reason, it met their standards while yours did not. Maybe they never even read your article; they just saw the title and decided to pass on it.

      The bottom line is that this article is an original work or submission, and was not at all derivative or copied from your article.

      But, you can point and say, hey, they saw my article; I have proof; I have a rejection letter.

      Now, they're in a bind. They didn't copy you, yet the evidence is not in their favor. So, they could lose a copyright infringement case brought against them by you, even though they may be completely not at fault.

      But, with that TOS, they can just point and show the judge that "All submissions become property of..." and then it doesn't much matter whether they copied from you or not.

      At least, that's my understanding of it. Of course, they could be doing whatever they want with your stuff, but I'd bet in most cases it is more about protecting themselves than being able to run fast and free with your submissions.
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237120].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Amenda Jessera
    Ya, I have read some other TOS where guys are telling that they are not responsible for the content from their users... but here right opposite. I think they are maintaing their site very well, so, If you can get a link from them, that will be awesome - an authority link, In my concern, I think you are giving some OUT OF NICHE content for their sites, Are you?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237091].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jay Truman
    Originally Posted by pbennett View Post

    So, I'm reading that once you post on this site, the information becomes THEIRS???
    i think for most forums when you post information, it becomes the site owners. Even in the WF:

    "In addition, you understand and agree that the posts and user information of all users will be collected, aggregated and integrated into the Warrior Forum."
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237178].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by Jay Truman View Post

      i think for most forums when you post information, it becomes the site owners.
      It really depends on the terms of use. Don't assume.

      Most forums I've seen do not claim ownership over submitted content.

      I'm not a lawyer, but I would wonder about the legal ramifications if a site were to claim ownership over submitted content, especially on a public forum. What if a user says something false and that bad information leads to some unfortunate consequence for someone else, someone who may wish to sue? Can the user point to the terms of use and say, hey, I don't own that statement anymore; the forum owner does. He didn't take it down; he must be okay with it. Take it up with him.?

      Even in the WF:

      "In addition, you understand and agree that the posts and user information of all users will be collected, aggregated and integrated into the Warrior Forum."
      I don't see anywhere in the WF terms where the WF is claiming ownership over submitted content. The line above more or less just gives the WF permission to display and publish the content you submit. It also allows Allen to do things like combine the best posts into a single post or whatnot.
      Signature

      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237301].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Jay Truman
        Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

        The line above more or less just gives the WF permission to display and publish the content you submit.
        your probably right and im just overreacting, although I prefer to assume the worst as the TOS can change at anytime
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237367].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
          LOL, I love this
          "World shall exclusively own any now known or hereafter existing rights to the Information of every kind and nature throughout the universe"

          Where does the universe end? If you go to Mars, you still can't claim it's yours eh?
          Signature

          "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237970].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author pbennett
            "World shall exclusively own any now known or hereafter existing rights to the Information of every kind and nature throughout the universe"
            I know! My husband was an attorney. I wonder what the heck he would say about THAT...

            I checked another site and their TOS definitely says that your content is your own. This weird TOS is from a huge conglomerate....
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237984].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
            Originally Posted by avenuegirl View Post

            LOL, I love this
            "World shall exclusively own any now known or hereafter existing rights to the Information of every kind and nature throughout the universe"

            Where does the universe end? If you go to Mars, you still can't claim it's yours eh?
            As I understand it, that's pretty much standard these days. My attorney used very similar language in some contracts he did for me a few years back. People always get a kick out of it.

            Those that actually read the contracts anyway.
            Signature

            Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

            Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1238271].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
    If you really want to question your judgement on deciding to hand over a vast number of your personal freedoms to a large entity that could care less about your personal rights read the TOS for the Google toolbar.

    If you're already using the toolbar and you haven't read the TOS now would be a good time to read them and ask yourself it that was really what you thought you were signing up to do.

    And for those that would dismiss those terms as mere boilerplate do yourself a favor and get out of your comfort zone and dig into what it means to hand over all the rights you are surrendering by agreeing to the TOS.

    This isn't legal advice, it's just common sense.

    KJ
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237275].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author davidomni
    Banned
    I like it how they say they own all the information in the universe.

    Really?

    What a joke.

    Cheers.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1237990].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author pbennett
      yeah, instead of naming it ****World, they should have named it ***Universe

      They're not kidding when they think they own it...
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1238024].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Given that language, they could even make the argument that they now own your email address, and my do with it as they please. My guess is that they get a significant chunk of income from list rentals.

        Most sites stop short of claiming actual ownership of materials submitted, but they do claim some pretty broad rights to using submissions.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1238049].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ppcpimp
    do you feel like they are going to use the info posted to defame you in any way?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1238302].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
    It seems they may have taken it from another website TOS... or else got a hold of a generic TOS policy because when I searched those words in quotes you described it comes up over 200 times in Google.

    I would suspect they don't even know it says that

    Mike Hill
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1238463].message }}

Trending Topics