• Anything ‘published’ on the web is viewed as intellectual property and, regardless of whether it displays a copyright symbol or not, is therefore copyrighted by the originator. The only exception to this is if there is a “free and unrestricted reuse” statement associated with the work.

    In order to protect our members and TFL from possible litigation, all members must abide by the following new rules:

    1. Copying and pasting entire articles from another site to TFL is strictly prohibited. The same applies to articles from print or other media, and to posting photographs taken of copyrighted pages or other media.

    2. Copyright law provides for “fair use” of portions of a copyrighted work. You can copy no more than a SINGLE paragraph from the article to your post (3 or 4 sentences at most).

    3. You must provide a link to the article along with the name of website. For example: ww.xxx.yyy/zzz (The Lower Thumbsuck Daily News).

    4. You must provide, in your own words, a brief summary of the article AND your reasons for believing it will be of interest to TFL members. Failure to do so may result in the thread being closed or your post being deleted as a “cut and paste drive by.”

    5. Photographs and other images are also copyrighted. "Hotlinking" of images (so that it appears in your message) from other sites is also prohibited unless you own rights to the image. If you wish to share an image, provide a clickable link to it.

    Posts that do not follow these new guidelines will be altered or deleted by staff. Members who continue to violate this policy may lose their posting privileges at TFL.

    Thank you for your cooperation and your participation in TFL, the leading online forum for firearms enthusiasts.

TFL & copyright: cost, risks, benefits

Chuck Dye

New member
In signing on to another forum, I agreed that I will not post copyrighted material. The phrasing was inclusive, not mentioning fair use quotes. Presumably, I have even agreed not to post material for which I hold the copyright. I do not recall such terms when registering here, and note that a lot of copyrighted material is posted, some with links, some even without any attribution whatsoever. Have TFL or any of its posters ever (pardon the phrase) come under the gun for copyright violation?
 
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HankL

New member
Huck, we agreed to several things including to be responsible for our own actions and comments. " By agreeing to these terms, you agree that responsibility for any post lies with the individual author, and any consequences which result from acting on the information found herein lies solely with you. "

Most of what I have seen are links to manufactures or organization as well as links to, or quotes from news sites. Free advertising in my opinion.

Do you have a specific case in point ?

Regards,
Hank
 

Chuck Dye

New member
HankL,

The question arose with the Probability Zero story published in the July/August 2002 issue of Analog. It is titled "Zero Tolerance" and is a satire of zero tolerance,hoplophobia, and what the liberals have done to the justice system. I typed it into my word processor and fired it off, in e-mail, to a couple of talk show hosts with full attribution and caveats. The story would make a thread starter, though more pot stiring and entertaining than anything else. With luck, it will turn up on the website soon and I can just post the link. The question is just curiousity: we see clearly what the staff see fit to lock, catch occasional glimpses of what and who gets deleted, but I have never read of copyright hassles. Just wondered if they occur.
 

HankL

New member
Huck, I don't read Analog but I see where you are going. Might be fun.

Rich would probably be the only one who could comment as to if any copyright hassles have ever come up.

HankL off to see if he can find a copy of July/August 2002 copy of Analog
 

C.R.Sam

New member
Maby tangently applicable.

Works published on or after Mar 1, 1989 are exempt from the notice requirement.
Downside to that move is that infringer can no longer claim "innocent infringement", thereby opening the possibility of larger award to the copyright holder in the event of a claim.

I figure, when in doubt, ask.

Sam
 

Chuck Dye

New member
Thank you Rich, that is the answer I sought. The train of thought was "This is fun. This could be fun on TFL. This is copyrighted: oops! never mind! Hey, I wonder if..."
 
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