Excerpted from:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/20518.html
"4:30 p.m. 30.Jun.99.PDT. In response to a boycott and criticism from
outraged customers, Yahoo late Wednesday abandoned rules that had given
it
eternal ownership of all Geocities Web sites.
"We're seeing how we can clarify our intentions, given the recent
outcry,"
said Tim Brady, Yahoo vice president of production.
"The new terms of service, which took effect 3 p.m. PST Wednesday after
executives spent the morning huddling with lawyers, now stress that
"Yahoo
does not own content you submit..."
"The company said that Yahoo will use customers' intellectual property
only
when displaying it on Web sites and for promotion and marketing.
"Many Geocities homesteaders worried that Yahoo could take their Web
pages
and republish them -- even in another form, which the contract allowed,
such as books or CD-ROMs. Customers still had the right to publish or
distribute their intellectual property themselves.
Experts say the changes are poorly drafted, but conclude that Yahoo has
seriously constrained its ability to republish members' content.
"The addition is a significant limitation on what they can do. They can
still reproduce, publish, translate, but can only do that for certain
purposes," said David Post, professor of law at Temple University.
"If they took my Web site and printed it out and published it as a book,
they can't do that on the basis of this license," said Post, who teaches
intellectual property law.
"That's exactly what Yahoo has said all along. "Clearly our intention is
not to publish books," Brady said. "Hopefully, with the language we're
looking at, it will be very clear to our users that that is not the
case..."
"If we took a snapshot of our business today, we could make paragraph
eight
[in the terms of service] more narrow," he said. "But we all know how
quickly the Web moves and everything's in flux. We need the flexibility
to
adapt our services..."
"Under the old terms of service, site owners had to give Yahoo a
"royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully
sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt,
publish,
translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display
such content" in any form or media."
====
Excerpted from:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO
Yahoo does not own Content you submit, unless we specifically tell you
otherwise before you submit it. You license the Content to Yahoo as set
forth below for the purpose of displaying and distributing such Content
on
our network of properties and for the promotion and marketing of our
services. By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically
grant, or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted,
Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully
sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt,
publish,
translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display
such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in
other
works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed.
You
acknowledge that Yahoo does not pre-screen Content, but that Yahoo and
its
designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole
discretion to refuse, edit, move or remove any Content that is publicly
available via the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, Yahoo and its
designees shall have the right to remove any Content that violates the
TOS
or is otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and
bear
all risks associated with, the use of any Content, including any
reliance
on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content. In this
regard, you acknowledge that you may not rely on any Content created by
Yahoo or submitted to Yahoo, including without limitation information in
Yahoo! Message Boards, Yahoo! Clubs, and in all other parts of the
Service.
9. INDEMNITY
You agree to indemnify and hold Yahoo, and its subsidiaries, affiliates,
officers, agents, co-branders or other partners, and employees, harmless
from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by
any
third party due to or arising out of your Content, your use of the
Service,
your connection to the Service, your violation of the TOS, or your
violation of any rights of another.
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wally(a)calweb.com