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Terms of Use and copyright

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testo

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, I am currently in the process of launching an online news sharing site and need to have a Terms of Use. I found a website which offers similar services as my website will and have read their Terms of Use agreement. My question is the following: May I copy their Terms of Use and change it slightly so that it is not completely the same, and so it will match the services I will be offering?

Thank you in advance! :)
 


testo

Junior Member
Because the other site is offering the same exact service I am. The only difference it mine is about fashion news, while its is about political news.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
There is no defined amount of "changing" that will make someone else's copyright-protected material fair game for you to take.

What you can do is isolate the specific facts and then write your own prose to those facts. For example I could take this sites terms:

1. No review of material by site owner
2. No vulgar or commercial posts.
3. $250 damages for violations

and say hey those all sound like good ideas and write my own terms.

Of course if you want something that might have some legal teeth, it would be best to get a lawyer to work on them rather than assuming someone else's terms that sound good to you will work.
 

testo

Junior Member
thank you for your reply FlyingRon. The site who's terms I want to copy and adapt to my own site is a well known site which receives millions of hits per day and the company is valued at around $23 million dollars. For that reason, I'm sure I will not have a problem they have not experienced.
 

quincy

Senior Member
You are sure you "will not have a problem they have not experienced" . . . . except, perhaps, for a copyright infringement problem, should you use their copyrighted material on your own site. ;)

I think you would be wise to follow FlyingRon and The Occulist's advice.
 

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