Who owns the copyright to the answers we post here? Does being selected as "best answer" change this?
The answer was the transcript I posted of the Jim Cramer interview on The Daily Show Thursday. While I did this for Mahalo, I have not received payment (which would be done if I was selected as best answer). Therefore, at this point, I probably could claim copyright.
At this point, with no best answer chosen, who "owns" the copyright?
If I was selected as best answer, thus receiving payment, would Mahalo "own" the copyright or would I?
Should I be able to request an answer of mine be removed from MA in order to sell/post it elsewhere? (I am not thinking of doing this, just wondering what others think.)
Of course, I am not sure either of us could claim the copyright since it is a transcript of a television episode. All I know is that the Vancouver Sun does NOT own the copyright for the material.
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M$5 Answers
Darcy, your question takes something for granted and that is whether your transcript was in fact copyright infringement in itself. The interview wasn't your content and derivative rights might encompass writing a transcript of it.
Ordinarily content you create is owned by you (as in it gains copyright protection automatically), but if this was a derivative work all bets are off. The law was designed to promote the science and useful arts by protecting original works of authorship.
To answer your second question, I don't think being selected as best answer changes anything. Although there is a notion of works made for hire, I would argue that it does not extend to works that were written in the hopes of getting paid. In other words, when a work is made for hire the commitment to payment happens before the work and here it happens afterward. Everything else I have read on the subject (I have taken classes in intellectual property, licensing intellectual property, cyberlaw, cybercrime, and business and technology) agrees with this result.
Darcy, feel free to contact me outside of Mahalo for more details and citations if you would like.
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M$
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Therefore, you're in the right.
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M$
@drivel He copied the TOS, which was written to address people who were challenging copyright infringement done by Mahalo.
I contacted Jason as well as executives over at CanWest (owners of the Vancouver Sun) and they are in the process of "investigating."
Sending a DMCA notice to Mahalo will not work. The infringement did not occur on Mahalo it occurred elsewhere. Mahalo has no control over what happens to your content elsewhere.
A DMCA notice will not work for the Vancouver Sun since it is in Canada.
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M$
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M$
I don't think there would be a better answer regarding that particular question so I propose it gets picked as soon as possible.
Maybe next time we should post a link to another website where we can decide wether we retain the copyright (or even donate them) or we use any other of the available licences.
I'm up for a creative commons licence and it would be useful if it was a default feature of Mahalo answers.
Too many thoughts comming to my head right now, I'll comment later.
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M$
Regarding the work in question, I am not claiming the copyright of it. What I am claiming is that I did the work and they took the work I did and used it without compensating me for my work. At this point, Vancouver Sun is being very jerkish about it and has yet to give me transcription credit and compensate me for the work. I guess they they think that because they the big guys can take from the little guys without any consequences. To that end, I am willing to go all the way and teach them otherwise.