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05-13-2009, 12:26 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4
| | | Intellectual property and forums
Hi, I'm not sure this is the right place to post this query but here goes. I'm enquiring on behalf of a friend of mine who runs a forum on the internet. It's a typical forum, just like this one and my friend has recently had to ban a particular member from her site as the person was being abusive. The banned person has since demanded that all their posts be deleted from the forum. The forum software is such that this would have to be done one by one, and apart from the inconvenience of removing individual posts it also messes up the flow within threads. Anyway, when my friend declined to remove all this person's posts he then wrote to her host claiming his "intellectual property had been violated" and was going to consult a solicitor.
I suspect it's all bluff but it made me wonder what the legal situation would be in regards to a user who has been banned from an internet forum being able to demand that their posts be removed? Do they have any basis in law for making that happen or is it merely just posturing?
Would be very grateful for any advice. |
05-13-2009, 12:41 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 8,245
| | | Hopefully the user had to affirm terms of service giving the site perpetual rights to use the postings.
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I'm not a lawyer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
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05-13-2009, 12:46 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: I dunno. What time is it?
Posts: 1,324
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by lxndr  was going to consult a solicitor. | It depends on where you are located. I don't know of any solicitors in the US, or at least none that could help in this situation. |
05-13-2009, 01:13 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4
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Originally Posted by Stevef It depends on where you are located. I don't know of any solicitors in the US, or at least none that could help in this situation. | Apologies, I'd written that in an ambiguous manner. It was the banned user who was threatening to contact a solicitor not the person running the forum. |
05-13-2009, 01:22 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 14,766
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by lxndr Apologies, I'd written that in an ambiguous manner. It was the banned user who was threatening to contact a solicitor not the person running the forum. | And yet, you still have not identified the name of your state.
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"Judges want people to be reasonable. Where one parent won't be reasonable, judges still want the other parent to remain reasonable." (Ford)
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05-13-2009, 01:23 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
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Originally Posted by lxndr Apologies, I'd written that in an ambiguous manner. It was the banned user who was threatening to contact a solicitor not the person running the forum. | **A: is this friend in the US? |
05-13-2009, 01:27 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverplum And yet, you still have not identified the name of your state. | It's not my site and I fail to see why I have to identify it in regards to my question. |
05-13-2009, 01:28 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 4
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeGuru **A: is this friend in the US? | My friend is in Scotland although the host may be in the US? |
05-13-2009, 01:31 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
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Originally Posted by lxndr My friend is in Scotland although the host may be in the US? | **A: that does not help at all. |
05-13-2009, 01:32 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
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Originally Posted by lxndr It's not my site and I fail to see why I have to identify it in regards to my question. | **A: yup, that's right just like you failed to follow posting instructions. |
05-13-2009, 01:39 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 14,766
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Originally Posted by lxndr It's not my site and I fail to see why I have to identify it in regards to my question. | 
I wrote STATE, not " site."
I don't care about the site. Furthermore, I see in a later post, your friend is not in the US. This site is for US Law ONLY.
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"Judges want people to be reasonable. Where one parent won't be reasonable, judges still want the other parent to remain reasonable." (Ford)
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05-15-2009, 12:03 AM
| | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 326
| | | And even if others would like to offer whatever semblance of "legal advice" on
this issue, be aware that various jurisdictions have various ways of dealing on
otherwise similar disputes. Un/fortunately, none of them are required or forced
to decide them the same way others do in other places.
Also un/fortunately, the only practical advice here is to see a licensed expert
with real-world experience on these things in your proper jurisdiction.
David
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Dave Zan ;o)
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