Who owns the copyrights for stuff a person posts on these message boards?
If I write a story or an essay or anything…and post it here for feedback, am i surrendering the copyright or anything?
What about the right of first publication? I heard somewhere that was important for book publication. What if I wanted to use an essay i posted here in a book?
Thanks!
This should be in ATMB.
You own the copyright on all of your posts, and on original material that you post here. However, the Reader requires, as a part of registration, that you agree to grant them a nonexclusive right to reprint anything posted here at any point in the future, without compensating you. As for “first publication” - if you posted it, you already did it. Because of these issues, if you’re trying to have something published for profit, you should probably not post it here.
Me no am law guy.
Any time you put anything into a public arena you’ve just ruined any private gains you could ever hope to receive.
If you scroll down to the bottom of any thread (including this page), you will see this:
““The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams” is a registered trademark of Chicago Reader, Inc. Contents of the Straight Dope Message Board and the Straight Dope Web site are copyright 1984-2002 by the Chicago Reader, Inc. All rights reserved. By posting on this board you grant the Chicago Reader, Inc., and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you. No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written consent of the Chicago Reader, Inc., except that message board users retain the right to republish or repost their own work.”
Off to ATMB.
As was told to me by a Moderator a while ago:
“Why would you post an original creative work on this Board?”
I think that lays it on the line pretty clearly to me.
Don’t post anything that is a “creative work” here. Go to another Board where your copyright is retained with yourself. Or find your own webspace - use Geocities if you have to - and post a link to it on here only.
Don’t post it on another place and then post it here as well. You might think that since you’ve published it previously you are safe, but you are not. Since you have copyright control, by putting it here, even if you published it elsewhere, you are giving the Reader that “nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you”…etc.
I think most boards operate like this; we always have.
And this protection works both ways, we also speak up on your behalf if someone is ripping you off (see last month’s trouble in Hong Kong to see what I mean).
Your work is always protected, it’s your original posting, it’s your copyright and we do not infringe on it. At the same time, if you place it on this board, the Reader has a right to re-use it as they see fit. Under the circumstances, I think that’s reasonable. If you have any doubt, don’t put it here.
your humble TubaDiva
Adminstrator
Heh. 
Don’t get me wrong here, I wasn’t griping.
It’s sort of a technicality that the Reader is not infringing on one’s copyright, because one has given them, by agreeing to the terms and conditions of the Board, to give the Reader “…and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to (one).” Therefore, it is impossible for them to infringe, per se, because you have signed away your rights to them.
There was another thread on here a while ago where another Staff Member (Arnold?) warned that if you posted a story here and tried to have it published elsewhere, even though you had the “right” to do so, that most publishers would not touch it, because of your giving the Reader that “…nonexclusive irrevocable right to re-use…” by your posting on this Board.
As TubaDiva says, many Boards, or even most, operate this way. As do a lot of fanfic sites, creative “story-writing” sites, and “writers workshop” sites. So keep this in mind.
Once again, I’m not griping, I’m only trying to answer the question as exactly as possible. And the answer is - if you want to keep the rights to your IP to yourself, don’t post it here.
Once upon a time…