Would I be sued if I made an e-book out of internet posts from reddit.com

[oakney2]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Hello, I want to publish and sell an e-book that is composed almost entirely of internet posts (anonymously submitted written stories) that have been posted (by other users, not me) on a certain section of reddit.com. But the reddit.com user agreement says this:

"You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorized use, by publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching, or otherwise, of material obtained through the Website, including without limitation the Assets or Website Content, except as permitted by the Copyright Act or other law or as expressly permitted in writing by this Agreement, Service Provider or the Website."

Is there any way I can get around this? I want to word-for-word copy these internet posts into an e-book and then a certain % of the sales would go to charity. Is a website like reddit.com actually able to sue me or anything over breaching the user agreement? I don't think they can.

 

[justalayman]

oakney2;3189703]

Is there any way I can get around this?

Do you mean like circumvent the user agreement or the laws in place?


that would be a: NO

I want to word-for-word copy these internet posts into an e-book and then a certain % of the sales would go to charity. Is a website like reddit.com actually able to sue me or anything over breaching the user agreement? I don't think they can.

the owner of the copyrights can


There was a poster here years ago that violated the rules of the forum. I don't know what happened to the suit but I do recall hearing of him responding to the suit in court. If the user agreement allows for them to sue you, yes, Reddit can sue you as well.


btw: your BS attempt to make your thievery honorable by claiming to give some of the proceeds to charity won't work either.

 

[quincy]

Would you be sued? I don't know.

Could you be sued? Yes.

If you want to use the written words of another or others, you must get their permission. Otherwise you are infringing on their rights. It doesn't matter what you intend to do with any revenue generated by your e-book.




(yes, what justalayman said . . . we posted at the exact same time)

 

[oakney2]

My question is what is the law I would be breaking? Is every post on reddit.com automatically copyrighted? I've never heard of something being automatically copyrighted, I thought you had to submit a specific written work to a government body and then pay a certain amount for it to be copyrighted. By 'getting around' the user agreement I mean that I'm hoping the worst they could do is just ban me from the website.

And yes it is honorable because I'm sure 99% of the people who's stories I'd be using never had any intention of publishing what they wrote anyway so I'm not taking anything from them. If someone asked me to remove their story from my book then I would, which is fair. All these great stories would be lost to the wider world if I didn't do anything with them, so it would be a loss to NOT do this. Sometimes something that looks like thievery is not thievery.

Do you mean like circumvent the user agreement or the laws in place?


that would be a: NO

the owner of the copyrights can


There was a poster here years ago that violated the rules of the forum. I don't know what happened to the suit but I do recall hearing of him responding to the suit in court. If the user agreement allows for them to sue you, yes, Reddit can sue you as well.


btw: your BS attempt to make your thievery honorable by claiming to give some of the proceeds to charity won't work either.

 

[justalayman]

oakney2;3189730]My question is what is the law I would be breaking? Is every post on reddit.com automatically copyrighted?

why yes, they are


I

've never heard of something being automatically copyrighted, I thought you had to submit a specific written work to a government body and then pay a certain amount for it to be copyrighted.

then become educated.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

And yes it is honorable because I'm sure 99% of the people who's stories I'd be using never had any intention of publishing what they wrote anyway so I'm not taking anything from them.

No, it isn't honorable. It is stealing their work and using it for your own benefit. Not a damn thing honorable about that. They have a right to not do anything with their stories if that is what they choose. That's the great thing about our society; what is mine is mine to choose what to do with. You can choose what to do with what you own. You start stealing my stuff and I get to (metaphorically) kick your ass.

If someone asked me to remove their story from my book then I would, which is fair

.why should they have to ask you to remove something they own and you have no rights to publish?

All these great stories would be lost to the wider world if I didn't do anything with them, so it would be a loss to NOT do this.

what is on the internet, so far, never ceases to exist...somewhere.

Sometimes something that looks like thievery is not thievery.

and sometimes something that looks like thievery actually is thievery.

 

[quincy]

My question is what is the law I would be breaking? Is every post on reddit.com automatically copyrighted? I've never heard of something being automatically copyrighted, I thought you had to submit a specific written work to a government body and then pay a certain amount for it to be copyrighted. By 'getting around' the user agreement I mean that I'm hoping the worst they could do is just ban me from the website.

And yes it is honorable because I'm sure 99% of the people who's stories I'd be using never had any intention of publishing what they wrote anyway so I'm not taking anything from them. If someone asked me to remove their story from my book then I would, which is fair. All these great stories would be lost to the wider world if I didn't do anything with them, so it would be a loss to NOT do this. Sometimes something that looks like thievery is not thievery.

What you wrote above is copyrighted. A copyright is automatic. Registration of the copyright is not necessary - it just provides the copyright owner with additional benefits and protection.

It doesn't matter if someone has no intention of profiting off their copyrighted material - that does not give you the right to take their material and profit off it. They own the rights.

The following link takes you to the U.S. Copyright Office website - http://www.copyright.gov - and I think you need to read through it to find out what the copyright law covers. Or write "U.S. copyright law" in your search bar and read through the links that appear.

Ignorance of the copyright law is not a defense to a copyright infringement suit.


(yikes - it appears I am echoing what you are writing, justalayman - so, the next post is all yours )