Question regarding Forum Rules.

[AC Question]

Hi,

I was in the process of registering to be a member/user of this site, when I read within the rules the following statement. "Anything you post within this system becomes the property of Android Forums and the Administrative staff...."

My question is, how is that legal? As that statement essentially allows the owners and administrators of the site to take any and all copyright protected content a user (assuming he or she is the originator of the content) posts on the site.

I am hoping that the statement I'm questioning about is unintentionally vague in scope, I am also assuming that current site members are either unaware of that statement. Or perhaps do not realize the potential ramifications of agreeing to such a statement, either way the statement is a major red flag to me.

On the flip side I have heard good things about this site, so I'm assuming it is a reputable and respected community. Yet again, that statement that anything I post on this site "IF" I were to agree to the rules, (which is why I'm posting this questionary post as a guest) would then become the property of this site. Has me at bay, as I have no intention of forfeiting any potential creative works to this site.

Overall, I simply ask that the "rules" and specifically, everything relating to that phrase, ""Anything you post within this system becomes the property of Android Forums and the Administrative staff....", be reviewed and a revision and re-write be considered.

Thank you for your time.
Mike
[email removed]

 

[Johnly]

I am not an expert on the matter of net legalities, but I think the jist of that statement is because these are public forums. Anything you post is public and comments can be intertwined with other comments making the "content" of a thread. It is like Facebook or any other public forums. If one didn't agree to the terms, it is simple enough to not agree to them. As far as that being illegal? Far from it from the little I know on the matter.

This is a good question for site support as they can dive deep into answering your questions! Thanks for sharing. If you have trouble finding site support, let me know and I will link you to the page.

 

[RumoredNow]

This is pretty standard rules language for any forum.

The main thrust is that the aggregation of comments IS the content of the forum and the only reason it exists and can attract users. Without any content the forum is rendered nonfunctional or nonexistent. Such boilerplate is used to secure against users who are leaving or are banned and want all their posts removed. No forum will do that. It leaves gaping holes in conversations and makes subsequent posts unintelligible due to lack of context.

I assure you that Android Central is not attaching to any copyrights or patents you might have for your creative works. You would have to specifically reassign each of those rights in writing. It is a general protection they have to ensure continuity of content on their forum. If you post a link to an app, they do not own that app. If you post a copyrighted piece of writing (and affixing a form now confers copyright protection in some instances), photography or artwork; you are only conferring to them (the forum) a right to display - it does not, and can not, confer the actual copyright. And you could always renegotiate the right to display, up to and including revocation of that right to display. (I have successfully done just that on several occasions.)

For this type of site, I'm not sure what intellectual property you envision posting or why you would be overly concerned about reassignment of rights...

 

[Johnly]

This is pretty standard rules language for any forum.

The main thrust is that the aggregation of comments IS the content of the forum and the only reason it exists and can attract users. Without any content the forum is rendered nonfunctional or nonexistent. Such boilerplate is used to secure against users who are leaving or are banned and want all their posts removed. No forum will do that. It leaves gaping holes in conversations and makes subsequent posts unintelligible due to lack of context.

I assure you that Android Central is not attaching to any copyrights or patents you might have for your creative works. You would have to specifically reassign each of those rights in writing. It is a general protection they have to ensure continuity of content on their forum. If you post a link to an app, they do not own that app. If you post a copyrighted piece of writing (and affixing a form now confers copyright protection in some instances), photography or artwork; you are only conferring to them (the forum) a right to display - it does not, and can not, confer the actual copyright. And you could always renegotiate the right to display, up to and including revocation of that right to display. (I have successfully done just that on several occasions.)

For this type of site, I'm not sure what intellectual property you envision posting or why you would be overly concerned about reassignment of rights...

My thoughts in more deliberate terms. Ultimately, more of a question for the admins of this site. We have had folks here work with them to post proprietary contest and surveys before, so nothing surprises me anymore.

 

[RumoredNow]

My thoughts in more deliberate terms. Ultimately, more of a question for the admins of this site. We have had folks here work with them to post proprietary contest and surveys before, so nothing surprises me anymore.

Certainly it would be great if Phil Nickinson or James Falconer would weigh in...

I'm equally confident in:

1. This (and all Mobile Nations Sites) being a safe place to post and participate
2. Mobile Nations being a good citizen of the world wide web
3. Mobile Nations having no evil designs to steal the intellectual property of others
4. Mobile Nations actually being a champion of intellectual property rights
5. My understanding of what rights get conferred (right of display only) by posting intellectual property to forums
6. The fact that I have on 3 separate occasions successfully negotiated to withdraw the right of display from a forum or website and that there is zero occurrences of that request being declined
7. The belief that the OP is making a mountain out of a molehill

 

[Johnly]

Certainly it would be great if Phil Nickinson or James Falconer would weigh in...

I'm equally confident in:

1. This (and all Mobile Nations Sites) being a safe place to post and participate
2. Mobile Nations being a good citizen of the world wide web
3. Mobile Nations having no evil designs to steal the intellectual property of others
4. Mobile Nations actually being a champion of intellectual property rights
5. My understanding of what rights get conferred (right of display only) by posting intellectual property to forums
6. The fact that I have on 3 separate occasions successfully negotiated to withdraw the right of display from a forum or website and that there is zero occurrences of that request being declined
7. The belief that the OP is making a mountain out of a molehill

You are welcome to contact site support as well, but this is certainly not a debate about the OP, whether a mountain, or molehill. All further inquiries about this sites legalities and terms of service should go directly to site support. After all, that is what it is there for : )