Roland
Thanks very much for finding those terms. It strikes me as wholly unprofessional (in the sense of unethical) that professional photographers (in the sense of earning their living) should perpetrate such a copyright theft and I will be complaining to the new forums' ISP. If my scribblings aren't publically available, I want them removed in their entirety.
(As an aside: thanks to the fee and sale agreement, these postings now have a quantifiable financial value and this
Drew says here : "All of the "old" stuff will be migrated. Testing on this has already been done. There don't appear to be any problems. The history of this forum is one of its greatest assets")
Having nailed my colours, I've read those terms very closely and want to sound a note of caution. Look at clause 5B.
"Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights contains copyrighted material, trademarks and other proprietary information, including, but not limited to, text, software, photos, video, graphics, music and sound, and the entire contents of Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights are copyrighted as a collective work under Canadian copyright laws. Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights owns a copyright in the selection, coordination, arrangement and enhancement of such content, as well as in the content original to it. "
Now section 5 relates to subscriber conduct and respect for copyright material on the site, and it should be contrasted with clause 11 on third party conduct. While the underlying purpose of the section is to wash their hands of anything potentially libellous or otherwise illegal, it's pretty clear that they do distance themselves from the contributions. Elsewhere other clauses repeat respect for copyright and, as I see it, there is no explicit transfer from the writer to the site owners.
It would be interesting to hear what a trained lawyer would say. My feeling is that there's enough for a valid argument and, more importantly, enough to scare the new forums' ISP.
John