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A word of Warning about use of Yahoo! Groups — Parallax Forums

A word of Warning about use of Yahoo! Groups

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2001-04-01 00:11 in General Discussion
Hi

To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.

Any advice?

============================= message 1 ==============================
...snip...
Just got off the phone with a friend in the UK and you might like to
hear this as it could have some repercussions in this newsgroup.

Firstly if you havent looked at the new T&C put in place by Yahoo
after the change from Egroups now would be a real good time to
take a look. In essence any images, text, program code, etc
posted through their list servers belongs to them, they hold the
copyright on this information and thus there could be something
nasty lurking down the line.

The Friend in question is taking legal advice as material he posted
has turned up elsewhere copyrighted by Yahoo and there doesnt
look to be a thing he can do about it.
...snip...
========================= message 2 ==============================
...snip...
WOW ITS TRUE!!!!!! I just read, http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ,
section 8, 3rd bullet. It specifies that they *can* use our stuff as
they
please, even including it in their own works without any restrictions!
Its like
if they were saying "If you post any software, we can take it and use it
as
our own"
...snip...
========================= message 3 ================================
...snip...
Its true... and it the 3rd bullet it particularly specifies "Any other
material..." (but the only thing left to mention is actually software!)
that its copyrighted to yahoo! and they can modify as they please and
even incorporate it into their own work and market it as their own.
...snip...
========================= end of messages ========================

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-03-30 03:52
    Just for grins, we should include our name, date and copyright statement in
    any text or code we store on their system.

    Original Message

    > To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
    > about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-03-30 05:48
    In a message dated 3/29/01 9:53:04 PM Eastern Standard Time,
    daweasel@s... writes:

    > Just for grins, we should include our name, date and copyright statement in
    > any text or code we store on their system.
    >
    > -

    That is exactly what I was thinking. As I recall, it is US title 21 that
    covers copyrights in this county. Maybe the laws are different enough in the
    UK that it makes a difference; patent law is rather different.
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-03-30 15:38
    If you read the TOS closely you realise that what they are doing is
    protecting themselves against lawsuits regarding intellectual property. You
    could send a program you've made, on which you have copyright, to a message
    board, and afterwards sue Yahoo! for infringement of copyright.
    What they are saying is that, by sending text, files, photos, whatever, to
    the boards, you grant Yahoo! the right to freely distribute it, i.e. a
    message sent to a mailing list.

    Cheers,

    Mike

    >
    Mensaje original
    > De: Arnaldo Braun [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=DfwnZpX-GylG7U9jY3jsP54I_Z0yTo7NhxvD9-bwFJy4oxi3JAf7HlaJ8qoXv2PS_gbZrU8tneW7]abraun@t...[/url
    > Enviado el: viernes, 30 de marzo de 2001 3:33
    > Para: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Asunto: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A word of Warning about use of Yahoo! Groups
    >
    >
    > Hi
    >
    > To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
    > about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.
    >
    > Any advice?
    >
    > ============================= message 1 ==============================
    > ...snip...
    > Just got off the phone with a friend in the UK and you might like to
    > hear this as it could have some repercussions in this newsgroup.
    >
    > Firstly if you havent looked at the new T&C put in place by Yahoo
    > after the change from Egroups now would be a real good time to
    > take a look. In essence any images, text, program code, etc
    > posted through their list servers belongs to them, they hold the
    > copyright on this information and thus there could be something
    > nasty lurking down the line.
    >
    > The Friend in question is taking legal advice as material he posted
    > has turned up elsewhere copyrighted by Yahoo and there doesnt
    > look to be a thing he can do about it.
    > ...snip...
    > ========================= message 2 ==============================
    > ...snip...
    > WOW ITS TRUE!!!!!! I just read, http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ,
    > section 8, 3rd bullet. It specifies that they *can* use our stuff as
    > they
    > please, even including it in their own works without any restrictions!
    > Its like
    > if they were saying "If you post any software, we can take it and use it
    > as
    > our own"
    > ...snip...
    > ========================= message 3 ================================
    > ...snip...
    > Its true... and it the 3rd bullet it particularly specifies "Any other
    > material..." (but the only thing left to mention is actually software!)
    > that its copyrighted to yahoo! and they can modify as they please and
    > even incorporate it into their own work and market it as their own.
    > ...snip...
    > ========================= end of messages ========================
    >
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-03-30 19:47
    True, but some very clever circuit ideas also appear here regularly, which
    the inventor might want to patent in some form. Any public disclosure
    such as this list could put it in the "public domain" and nullify a future
    patent. I'm not a lawyer but am on my university's technology and
    licensing committee. Presenting a 15 minute paper or poster at a
    scientific meeting with a published abstract is sufficient to blow the
    patent rights.

    Dennis

    On Thu, 29 Mar 2001, Rodent wrote:

    > Just for grins, we should include our name, date and copyright statement in
    > any text or code we store on their system.
    >
    >
    Original Message
    >
    > > To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
    > > about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-03-31 23:39
    Hi Dennis,

    I always thought you have one year to patent after presenting
    publically. After that, it is anyone's game...

    Have a nice afternoon,
    Paul

    On Fri, 30 Mar 2001, Dennis O'Leary wrote:

    > True, but some very clever circuit ideas also appear here regularly, which
    > the inventor might want to patent in some form. Any public disclosure
    > such as this list could put it in the "public domain" and nullify a future
    > patent. I'm not a lawyer but am on my university's technology and
    > licensing committee. Presenting a 15 minute paper or poster at a
    > scientific meeting with a published abstract is sufficient to blow the
    > patent rights.
    >
    > Dennis
    >
    > On Thu, 29 Mar 2001, Rodent wrote:
    >
    > > Just for grins, we should include our name, date and copyright statement in
    > > any text or code we store on their system.
    > >
    > >
    Original Message
    > >
    > > > To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
    > > > about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    > >
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-04-01 00:11
    Hi Paul,

    Yes, that is correct for US patent rights. But for international, there is
    not a 1-year lag time. The easy solution is to file a provisional patent
    (Pat. Pending) ASAP. That doesn't require much detail, and allows you one
    year before filing a regular patent. All the provisional patent forms are
    can be found in "How To" books on the subject.

    Regards,
    Dennis

    Original Message
    From: Paul J. Csonka [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=AONg-Va-W0x1g03JbQ6x9YjFa2N7c1h-qmdbyor0G5uk_KQe-_JK1SnzwlVBvPdo9-zTBCvnPfY]csonka@e...[/url
    Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 2:40 PM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A word of Warning about use of Yahoo! Groups


    Hi Dennis,

    I always thought you have one year to patent after presenting
    publically. After that, it is anyone's game...

    Have a nice afternoon,
    Paul

    On Fri, 30 Mar 2001, Dennis O'Leary wrote:

    > True, but some very clever circuit ideas also appear here regularly, which
    > the inventor might want to patent in some form. Any public disclosure
    > such as this list could put it in the "public domain" and nullify a future
    > patent. I'm not a lawyer but am on my university's technology and
    > licensing committee. Presenting a 15 minute paper or poster at a
    > scientific meeting with a published abstract is sufficient to blow the
    > patent rights.
    >
    > Dennis
    >
    > On Thu, 29 Mar 2001, Rodent wrote:
    >
    > > Just for grins, we should include our name, date and copyright statement
    in
    > > any text or code we store on their system.
    > >
    > >
    Original Message
    > >
    > > > To people with more knowledge in laws: I found the following messages
    > > > about <"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service"> in Yahoo! Groups.
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    > >
    > >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >




    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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