# Who Owns Our Content? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127 "2021-12-15T23:12:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/1 "2021-12-15T23:12:24Z")
Purely factual question surrounding SDMB rules (I am not passing judgment, and urge my fellow board members to show the same courtesy 🙂 ). But who does our content on these boards technically belong to, legally? I seem to recall a while back someone joked that it belongs to the Chicago Reader et al. But we later found out that perhaps that was no joke. Anyway things have changed. And as I said, it was a while ago IAE. The reason why I ask is, I am sure sometimes someone here may want to cross post, to another message board. And you know copying and pasting is easier than typing. On some other message boards it’s a nonissue. But here I wasn’t sure. (Again, no debates in ATMB.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/2 "2021-12-15T23:37:49Z")
This is the relevant section of the registration agreement: > [@](#): > > All postings and other material on the SDMB are copyrighted by STM. Republication of material appearing on the SDMB without express written permission of STM is prohibited, except that users retain the right to republish their own work. So basically, if you wrote the post, you are free to cross post it elsewhere. If you didn’t write it, you can’t copy/paste it elsewhere unless you get written permission first. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/3 "2021-12-15T23:44:51Z")
Permission of STM alone, or permission of STM _and_ the original writer? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/4 "2021-12-15T23:51:26Z")
Also from the registration agreement: > By posting on this board you grant STM and its successors and assigns a nonexclusive irrevocable right to reuse your posting in any manner it or they see fit without notice or compensation to you. STM, BTW, is [Sun-Times Media](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-Times_Media_Group). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/5 "2021-12-16T00:05:38Z")
[Terms of Service - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/tos) say > [@](#): > > Nothing in these terms gives the company any ownership rights in intellectual property that you share with the forum They go on to say other things, but I think that’s pretty clear: each person owns the posts they have written, but give the company a right to reproduce/display it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/6 "2021-12-16T00:07:58Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > They go on to say other things, but I think that’s pretty clear: each person owns the posts they have written, but give the company a right to reproduce/display it. But I am asking about the company’s right to let _others_ reproduce/display it without the permission of the original writer. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/7 "2021-12-16T00:56:32Z")
I could only imagine that a US court would maintain that the poster owns the copyright (for any posts that are eligible for copyright protection), but that the registration agreement counts as a license for the Straight Dope to reprint anything posted here. So you can repost your own writings and you can repost the writings of others with their permission. I don’t think that the “Republication of material appearing on the SDMB without express written permission” bit would suffice as a exclusive license that would prohibit others from allowing you to repost their writing. But the Dope could find you in violation of their rules and kick you off the board. If you took a bunch of posts from the board and tried to publish them, then you might run into trouble. Could be seen as trademark dilution, but that would be for a court to decide. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/8 "2021-12-16T01:01:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But I am asking about the company’s right to let _others_ reproduce/display it without the permission of the original writer. I don’t see anything explicitly allowing that in the registration agreement, so I would say no, the company has no such right, though they may be able to allow a subsidiary or affiliate to do so. I would defer to a contract attorney on the matter, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/9 "2021-12-16T01:02:31Z")
As an example of why this is relevant, some of the Straight Dope books included samples copied from the SDMB. The owners of the Straight Dope at the time (I believe that was the Chicago Reader) were able to do that, because of that part of the registration agreement: They didn’t have to track down every person who posted to those threads and ask them all individually. And the current owners could do something similar, if they chose. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/10 "2021-12-16T07:59:14Z")
Several years back there was a period where a few websites that basically copied the whole SDMB and claimed it as their own content. Posters must have reported 5 or 10 of them. Do the mods know if any action was taken, like a cease and desist or something similar? I understand companies have to defend trademarks seriously or risk losing them. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/11 "2021-12-16T14:27:29Z")
I reported those to our admin whenever someone found one. I never received any feedback about what, if anything, was done about them. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-our-content/956127/12 "2021-12-16T19:15:51Z")
Thanks for the info. I would guess it’s like playing whack a mole. Once they’ve stolen the content, they can just keep on switching hosting sites.