Who owns the comments on my hubs?

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   Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

   I'm assuming I do, but is this the case?

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2. 0

   Justine76posted 14 years ago

   If you have the power to remove them, hide them, delete them, I would assume they are yours, to the same extent your hub is yours....
   
   why? If it helps any, I give all my comments (on your hubs) to you to do with as you wish...

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      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      lol, thanks DM, I'll use them as I see fit.

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         Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         HAHAH!! Ok.    your welcome.

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   2. 61

      LovelyThoughtsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You go girl!  Do not listen to that other guy, he sounds like he likes to kiss butt.

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         Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         ROTFL... Thank you. But do you mean Misha?
         Thats so funny....no, he does not kiss butt.(Unless it a pretty butt...)  I promise. 
         HP does indeed have the right to override anything, as this IS thier website.  but they usally wont. Mostly, they may possably delete something you have allowed, if it is against the rules for Adsense.  thats all.

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         1. 61

            LovelyThoughtsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I thought you guys were talking about Hp bringing back deleted comments or something.  Never mind then.  I just cannot suffer men who act like they know it all though, but that's just me.  I am a maverick that way, and not very pretty.

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               Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

               I know, its not nice for anyone to act like they know everything. Thanks anyway for the compliment. And this is a good place to get questions answered, if you can sift thru it all.

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3. 64

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   Since HP can theoretically override any of your decisions, at the end they do

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      True, was just curious as I get a lot of pretty good real-life ghost stories, etc.  And was toying with the idea of including some of them in something else I may or may not get my ass in gear to work on.

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         Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         If you can get your ass in gear better then I can get mine..you can HAVE my stories..

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            Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, it'll probably never happen, lol, but you never know.

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               Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

               well...yeah, I know..ya know? If you do ever need a story or two for something or other, give me a shout.
               
               I think Misha is right, you would just have to try to get the commentors permisson. Wich may be hard, lots of your commentors are 14 year olds with no HP profile? Oujia boards seem to be a big thing for teens?...yikes..

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               1. 64

                  Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi Justine
                  
                  Liking your new old pic - is it safe already?
                  
                  LOL As for outsiders comments - I would check HP disclaimers, they just have to have some language about whom copyright to those belongs to, and likely people sign to give up their copyright by the fact of posting comments.

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                     Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     thanks
                     its never safe
                     I need to live tho....

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                  2. 58

                     Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Good idea Misha, thanks, I'll get onto it.

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               2. 58

                  Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Exactly, I remember reading a big debate on webpronews or something a while back about it, but can't remember the outcome.
                  
                  But the fact that this is HP and not my own personal website might confuse matters even further.
                  
                  Ah well, lol.

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      2. 64

         Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I think in that sense HP do not own anything. It's rather you or comment poster - so I would just ask a permission of a comment poster to use their story.

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         1. 58

            Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            That could be tricky, it would probably be impossible to locate most of them.

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      3. 73

         livewithrichardposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         That's a different subject all together.  You're asking if the comments are copyright protected by the commenter.  That's a good question but I would assume they are although not registered with any copyright agency.

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            Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Yep, that was exactly my question, it's a tricky one.
            
            Thanks for your thoughts.

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      LovelyThoughtsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I might be new at this, but that just sounds funny.  If the girl above deleted her comments, why would HP bring them back.  I say if you can delete it and you wrote the hub, you own it!

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4. 73

   livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

   Ownership belongs to HP, control belongs to you. Sort of....
   
   HP has to answer to their advertisers and I'm sure it is a very rare occasion that on a commercial hub the author would allow anything that is against HP's TOS, such as links to adult sites, but when they do and another hubber or staff member points it out then HP has no choice but to moderate the comment.

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      hmmmm, I had a feeling this was going to get confusing, my thoughts were more concerning my rights to reproduce the comments of visitors on paper, as part of a book or e-book or something.

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5. 73

   livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

   "hmmmm, I had a feeling this was going to get confusing, my thoughts were more concerning my rights to reproduce the comments of visitors on paper, as part of a book or e-book or something."
   
   LOL I'm slow but I'm caught up now

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6. 61

   Dao Hoaposted 14 years ago

   I think the people who wrote the comments. Since most of them are hubbers, you can email them for permission to use the comments.

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Unfortunately most of them aren't hubbers.

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7. 78

   Sufidreamerposted 14 years ago

   Have to agree with Misha and Richard
   
   Copyright is automatically granted to the author as soon as something is published. I am not 100% sure, but I suspect that comments fall into that category.
   
   I know that's not what you wanted to hear

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Nope, not really what I wanted to hear, lol, but it was what I was half expecting.

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8. 75

   Hauntyposted 14 years ago

   In most cases the authors of the comments retain the copyright in their original works (given it is original work), but the website operator obtains a non-exclusive, royalty free license to use and publicly display all comments posted to their site (given this license to comments is stated in the TOS).

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds kind of promising, although that sounds more like HP own them, and not me, hmmm.

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9. 78

   Sufidreamerposted 14 years ago

   Good idea from Misha - it might be worth emailing the team. If HP does have the right to comments, they may be happy for you to use them in return for publicity. At least you will get an answer straight from the horse's mouth

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   1. 58

      Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I doubt they like me much at the moment, as I was the only person to call their new large survey ads spammy, lol.
      
      But I'll give it a go.
      
      Thanks for your help.

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10. 58

    Mrvoodooposted 14 years ago

    Thanks to all for your advice, if I get a definitive answer to this I'll post it back here at some point.
    
    Many thanks.

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11. 73

    livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

    It's a sticky situation, I just read through the TOS again and it states that HP provides Authors a service and the tools to publish and that authors retain the copyrights to any and all "author content" and also "hub content" where author content is anything that a posted anywhere on HP, including forum posts (which also means the comments)  Hub content is anything posted on the hubs.
    
    By those definitions, if I commented on your hub then I, as a member of HP, own the copyright to that comment as I own the copyright to this post.
    
    Your best bet is to change up the comments you want to use so it will be considered a derivative of the original which is completely legal and then yours.

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    1. 58

       Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Excellent, thanks for taking the time, I've just been doing a little reading around the net myself and it does appear that those who comment retain copyright to said comments.
       
       Guess I'll just have to chuck them through Misha's mates spinning program.

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          Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

          or start a new thread asking for permission to use others comments...I wouldn't hold my breath on that one tho...

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          1. 58

             Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Same problem as before though, most of the comments aren't from fellow hubbers, but from randoms passing through.

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                Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                I know. Ive read them..it IS a book!!
                AND of the hubbers..youll be hard pressed to get enough to "give away" anything..
                hmm..maybe I shouldn't have said that...sorry Mr V if that was worng..
                I think I have developed forumattackaphobia.....

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                1. 58

                   Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                   lol, 'tis all good, was just one of those ideas that might have had potential, you never know.
                   
                   Think I'll add that one to the to-do pile, and come back to it later.
                   
                   Off for a bit, back laters, take it easy.

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                      Justine76posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                      bye. have a good night. 

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12. 75

    Hauntyposted 14 years ago

    That's right.
    
    Here's what the TOS say:
    
    HubPages does not claim ownership of Your Hub Content or Author Content. Such content will be owned by You or a third party from whom You got permission to post the content.
    
    By posting Author Content on the Service, You grant HubPages a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license to reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, distribute, modify, adapt and publish the Author Content on or in connection with the Service.

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    1. 58

       Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Blimey, didn't realize they had quite as many rights to do what they liked with our work.  I guess that's standard TOS though.
       
       Cheers Haunty.

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          Hauntyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Yes, it kind of sucks. But it's necessary, because if it wasn't in place comment authors could possibly claim that in some way through their comments they contribute to the revenue generated from Adsense ads and so deserve a share of that revenue. I know this is partly the reason, but since it's legal stuff I don't even try to meddle in it.

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             Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             True, makes sense, they're not getting their hands on my money though, lol, there's not enough to go around.
             
             I guess just re-writing them, changing names, etc. would be the best way to go.

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    thisisoliposted 14 years ago

    I would say the commentor hold overall rights, but its a tricky situation!

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    1. 58

       Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       It certainly is.
       
       I'm thinking I could probably just use them and get away with it and nobody would ever be the wiser, but you never know.

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    alexandriaruthkposted 14 years ago

    I think the comments are owned by the hubber because it is part of the hub itself??

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    1. 58

       Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Don't you go confusing matters now, hehe, just kidding, i'm very confused now.
       
       Here's some more info for anybody who's interested: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/ … g-comments
       
       I'm wondering if adding something to my hubs that states by commenting visitors agree to pass copyright of said comments over to me would be legal, hmmmmm.

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