Discussion:
State: VA
I run a public Internet forum. Users are free to post whatever they wish (within reason) on a variety of topics.
One of the users of my forum posted some of his personal recipes to the site. Now, after many months, this user is requesting that I edit all of his prior postings in order to obfuscate the recipes. He says that he is in the process of publishing a book which will contain said recipes and that he no longer wants his recipes posted. Furthermore, he wants me to obfuscate messages from other users who have posted recipes which are based on his recipe.
It is my understanding that once you post a message to a public forum (which is indexed by Google and other search engines), your content becomes part of the public domain and you no longer "own" said material.
I have updated my Terms & Conditions to include such language ("anything posted to this site becomes the property of this site") but my previous Terms & Conditions did not include said language.
Can you tell me whether this person has a legitimate legal case against me?
Answer:
State: VA
I run a public Internet forum. Users are free to post whatever they wish (within reason) on a variety of topics.
One of the users of my forum posted some of his personal recipes to the site. Now, after many months, this user is requesting that I edit all of his prior postings in order to obfuscate the recipes. He says that he is in the process of publishing a book which will contain said recipes and that he no longer wants his recipes posted. Furthermore, he wants me to obfuscate messages from other users who have posted recipes which are based on his recipe.
It is my understanding that once you post a message to a public forum (which is indexed by Google and other search engines), your content becomes part of the public domain and you no longer "own" said material.
I have updated my Terms & Conditions to include such language ("anything posted to this site becomes the property of this site") but my previous Terms & Conditions did not include said language.
Can you tell me whether this person has a legitimate legal case against me?
My response:
There is no claim. Tell the person to "bite rocks."
IAAL
Answer:
It is my understanding that once you post a message to a public forum (which is indexed by Google and other search engines), your content becomes part of the public domain and you no longer "own" said material. delete all his old posts
his "recipies" are not public domain, they are still his copyright, if someone infringes on his copyright, he can tell them to Cease & Desist or sue them if he wants.
actually he can sue anyone he wants, including you.
he doesn't have a case, but he can still sue if he so desires.
Answer:
delete all his old posts
he doesn't have a case, but he can still sue if he so desires. If he doesn't have a case, what would be the effect of suing me?
Answer:
If he doesn't have a case, what would be the effect of suing me? several things most of which involve you ending up with Less Money.
#1: You have to answer and try to get the case dismissed, if it gets dismissed you are out some Time and Money, if you don't get the case dismissed, you have to defend yourself and that will cost more Time and Money. You may win in the end, but you will have spent Time and Money.
#2 Knowing that it will cost you Time and Money, you may opt to Settle out of Court if the amount is less than what it would have cost to defend yourself. This happens ALL the time.
#3 If the guy is trying to motivate you to do something (alter his posts, alter other people's posts...) filing a lawsuit you may get you to take him seriously and become his little puppet so he Drops the Lawsuit.
It has been pointed out that he does not have a valid case, so he will most likely have a difficult time finding a lawyer to take his case (since he doesn't have one and can't really prove enough damages to make it worthwhile).
He could try to sue you himself in Small Claims court, but unless he has done this before he probably won't.
Most people Huff and Puff and make demands but rarely sue, because it means they have to get off their butt and file claims, pay money to a lawyer....etc etc.
So far, the guy is just making demands.
Its your forum, you decide what you want to do.
Answer:
Just FYI:
his "recipies" are not public domain, they are still his copyright, if someone infringes on his copyright, he can tell them to Cease & Desist or sue them if he wants. Recipes are not copyrightable subject matter. If the writer wrote about the recipe, and described the finished product in some way, that might be copyrightable, but the recipe itself -- 12 eggs, 2 lbs sugar, etc. -- is not copyrightable.