Tff Affiliation With Tropical Fish Magazine

[jonp]

I reckon its a shame they dont appear to have shared their answers with the OP's, a lot of them are very in depth. prehaps they have PM'd the OP/site owners and asked them if they could use the questions???

I dont actually see any terms of use on fishforums.net prohibiting commercial use, other than the restrictions on advertising so not sure where it would stand in law - particularly as questions from hobbyists are'nt creative works or held under commercial copyright.

Not defending them in any way shape or form and if they have taken them without permission I guess the ethical thing to do would be a donation to the site owners, who kindly let us reside here, to assist with server costs etc.

 

[backtotropical]

I believe from a recent thread here on TFF that copyright is automatically assigned to the poster, not the forum, unless you specifically state otherwise.

Not defending them in any way shape or form and if they have taken them without permission I guess the ethical thing to do would be a donation to the site owners, who kindly let us reside here, to assist with server costs etc.

Whilst a donation to the site owner would be a nice goodwill gesture, I believe as stated above that the copyright belongs to the member, not the site, and so if my posts were being used, I think I'd be looking for a compensatory payment to be made to me personally, not to TFF.

Of course there is the other issue that the magazine appear to be implying an agreement with TFF, which the site admin apparently know nothing about. That would be an issue between the magazine and TFF admin, and in that case a donation to the site owner may be an amicable remedy.

Cheers

BTT

 

[jonp]

Have just looked up UK law here IPO and although I think there may be a case for forum postings being copyright(although this appears to be be quantified as original creative works), the compensation awarded in a court seemingly would depend on the courts assessment of your (the original poster's) finanical loss as a result of them using your relevent material. I think as hobbyists asking for advice to help with your hobby this would be limited. I havent seen any evidence of them taking answers lock stock and barrel.

I suspect the only effective recourse here would be to ensure any readers of the magazine, if they cannot prove permission to reproduce the questions, are aware of the magazines tactics in sourcing articules and persuading them to vote with their feet

As for the admins not being aware I think we need to pass back to them for comment, if they wish?

 

[aaronnorth]

any news?

 

[rdd1952]

Inchworm just recently dug up an old thread (about 2 years ago) in the mods section that does mention this. Apparently William (after discussing with the mods) did give them permissionto do this. They wanted to pull some of the more commonly asked questions from the forum. They were not going to use any answers given here but instead, have their panel of experts answer them. They agreed to reference the questions with the TFF logo and our website address.

 

[nosoup4you]

Ah, mystery solved...

 

[aaronnorth]

thanks.