PDA

View Full Version : question legal issues


s2kinteg916
02-29-2004, 09:13 PM
i want to build a celebrity biography site . I was wondering if i went to other sites and used their biographies and gave them credit for it ? would that be legal ?

what would be the best method of getting content ? without writing it myself. Biographies are alot of work... it would take me years to cover all these celebrities...
DaveM
02-29-2004, 11:51 PM
Technically even if you did give credit it's still not legal, you have to ask....

Most celebrity photos are copyrighted I would imagine
chromate
03-01-2004, 06:57 AM
Yeah, I thought about doing a site like this. But the legal side of things put me off. However, someone over on sitepoint runs fanhost and I don't think he's had any problems.
MarkB
03-01-2004, 07:37 AM
When using copyrighted material, ALWAYS ask for permission unless you fancy the risk of getting a cease-and-desist letter ;) You may NOT get sued, but is it worth it?
incka
03-01-2004, 10:21 AM
Theres alot of public domain biographies...
Chris
03-01-2004, 02:48 PM
This is easy.

Contact the person's publicist. They keep bio's and images just for things like this (well, not for websites specifically, but for media in general).

Try the person's official site (if it exists).
eMEraLdwPn
03-01-2004, 02:58 PM
along the same lines, if a band or artist has an official page with a bio, could you take the bio and link to their official site and give them credit?
DaveM
03-01-2004, 03:51 PM
They dont even have to send a cease and desist, they can just sue you.

Last year about 20 humor sites got sued for copyright infringment by a group of cartoonists. Luckily none of my sites were any of them and I cleaned them up when it happened and am alot more careful now.
DaveM
03-01-2004, 03:52 PM
When it comes down to it I dont even think lyric sites are legal nowadays
Chris
03-01-2004, 07:01 PM
Its one thing to take a copyrighted cartoon, and another to take an official bio written for public distribution.
DaveM
03-01-2004, 07:15 PM
Obviously, but I wasn't comparing the two, just using that as an example to what can happen if you do use copyrighted stuff. I think it should be taken more serious, most people don't think about it when creating a site.