Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Protecting a person's personal writings on a web site

am currently a member of a web based ''fan board''. This has been a great place for a long time but just recently some very unhappy issues have come to light. There has been missing monies from a donation(s) made through the site owner, as the site owner will not discuss the events with anyone.This web site is based in CA. The other and actually my point of this question is there is a section of the board dedicated to fan writing, stories and poetry etc. Since there has been a lot of dissension on said board, the owner has locked and ''archived''( or possibly deleted,although we doubt that at this time) many of the loudest dissenters works. She is refusing them access to their works. Can she legally hold on to someone else's work? Is there any way to make her release said works so the authors can either delete it and or copy their own original work. Many of the authors are worried she may use their work as her own as she has proved to be vindictive and has clearly defrauded many individuals on this site.


Asked on 9/29/08, 1:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gordon Firemark Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark

Re: Protecting a person's personal writings on a web site

Review the terms of service of the site. They probably say that by posting content to the site, you grant the site operators a license to use, modify or remove the material. Unless they exceed the scope of that license, you'll have a tough time.

The "Fraud" claim might be important... if you can prove a material misrepresentation and reasonable reliance to a plaintiff's detriment, there might be a basis for arguing that the license granted in the TOS was induced by fraud.

In my opinion, it's thin... but worth a look.

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Answered on 10/04/08, 1:14 pm


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