Geocities legalities from Nikk Effingham on 1999-07-05 (Glorantha Digest Vol 06)

From: Nikk Effingham <nikk_at_MailAndNews.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 12:10:58 +0100

I know this is off topic, but as I already know many people who have considered, or are considering, moving their pages from Geocities because of the statements put forwards across the internet, I thought I should try and clear up the situation. Before I begin, I am no lawyer, but I think Yahoo have made it very clear in their contract exactly what the legal situation of your Content is. Simply put the first line reads:

"Yahoo does not own Content you submit, unless we specifically tell you
otherwise before you submit it."

Which is kinda a give away that they aren't actually trying to screw people by taking their copyrights.

The part that reads:

"By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant, or
warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. "

is what everyone is getting worried about, but as has already been stated, Yahoo IS NOT THE OWNER - you are! It is, form what I can gather, basically a statement to protect Yahoo from ramifications if someone else puts copyrighted material up on their webpage, ensuring that the owner of the site takes responsibility for everything that is put up, and not Yahoo. Which is fair enough, IMO.

As I say I am not a lawyer, but the contract is crystal clear when read entirely, and I don't believe anyone is in any danger if they leave their material on Geocities.

Sorry for wasting bandwidth, but obviously for Geocities site owners this is quite important.

Nikk

        "If absolute power corrupts absolutely,
                   where does that leave God?"
                               -- George Daacon

Nikk Effingham
E-Mail: nikk_at_MailAndNews.com
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/7556/