Hi all,

I've been thinking about how to take GtkDcoding to the next level and one idea is to use (favourable) comments made here on the forum to help promote the blog.

So, since I'm not clear on copyright law and how it affects forum posts, I decided to ask...

1) Does anyone know how copyright laws stand regarding reuse of comments on a forum?

2) Does anyone object to me quoting them for promotional purposes?

On Monday, 14 October 2019 at 11:14:50 UTC, Ron Tarrant wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I've been thinking about how to take GtkDcoding to the next level and one idea is to use (favourable) comments made here on the forum to help promote the blog.
>
> So, since I'm not clear on copyright law and how it affects forum posts, I decided to ask...
>
> 1) Does anyone know how copyright laws stand regarding reuse of comments on a forum?
>
> 2) Does anyone object to me quoting them for promotional purposes?

Pretty sure since this is a public forum, legally you just need to reference your sources (if even that). Asking permission is just polite.

I don't say anything good, but you're free to use mine.

On Mon, 2019-10-14 at 11:14 +0000, Ron Tarrant via Digitalmars-d-learn wrote: […]
> 1) Does anyone know how copyright laws stand regarding reuse of comments on a forum?

IANAL, but… I believe emails, and I suspect forum posts, are copyright since they are literary works. Quoting them with reference to the original source is, I believe, fair use. But that depends on the jurisdiction. For forums I would guess that the jurisdiction of the server handling the UI (and possibly the one holding the storage if different) is the jurisdiction for copyright law. For emails it is likely weird, and not at all obvious.

> 2) Does anyone object to me quoting them for promotional purposes?

Not I. I am happy for comments I make regarding GtkDCoding on this email list to be used above my name on the GtkDCoding website.

-- 
Russel.
===========================================
Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200
41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077
London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk

On Mon, 2019-10-14 at 15:36 +0000, Jesse Phillips via Digitalmars-d-learn
wrote:
[…]
> Pretty sure since this is a public forum, legally you just need to reference your sources (if even that). Asking permission is just polite.
[…]

But the forum/email list does not have terms of use that transfer copyright from the writer to the owner of the server hosting the forum/email list. Literary works are copyright the writer unless they give up that copyright. But IANAL.

Quoting short parts of a literary work with attribution is clearly fair use – at least in the jurisdictions I know about, there may be some jurisdictions in which this doesn't apply.

Asking permission guarantees no future copyright case brought against you.

-- 
Russel.
===========================================
Dr Russel Winder      t: +44 20 7585 2200
41 Buckmaster Road    m: +44 7770 465 077
London SW11 1EN, UK   w: www.russel.org.uk

On Monday, 14 October 2019 at 15:36:44 UTC, Jesse Phillips wrote:

> Pretty sure since this is a public forum, legally you just need to reference your sources (if even that). Asking permission is just polite.

Well, yes and no. According to the FTC (U.S.) and the Federal Competition Bureau (Canada) it's best to get permission in written form, even if it's email or on a public forum, no matter what the source of the comments. It's polite, yes, but it also removes ambiguity.

> I don't say anything good, but you're free to use mine.

:) <smirk> Why, thanks, Jesse.

On Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at 14:33:27 UTC, Russel Winder wrote:

> Not I. I am happy for comments I make regarding GtkDCoding on this email list to be used above my name on the GtkDCoding website.

Thanks, Russel.