There are good terms of service, and I think I can show you a good example. Why not use it as best practice?
Yes, I admit, I regularly take a look at the terms of service, and I have never regretted it. Some of them, like Facebook, are just unbelievable, outrageous.
Take a look at the terms of service for YUKU.com, especially Chapter 3:
"Yuku does not claim any ownership rights in any Content that you post to the Service. After posting your Content to the Service, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose. By posting any Content on or through the Service, you hereby grant to Yuku a limited license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on and through the Service. Without this license, Yuku would be unable to provide the Service. The license you grant to Yuku is non-exclusive (meaning you are free to license your Content to anyone else in addition to Yuku), fully-paid and royalty-free (meaning that Yuku is not required to pay you for the use on the Service of the Content that you post), sublicensable (so that Yuku is able to use its affiliates and subcontractors such as Internet content delivery networks to provide the Service), and worldwide (because the Internet and the Service are global in reach). This license will terminate at the time you remove your Content from the Service. The license does not grant Yuku the right to sell your Content, nor does the license grant Yuku the right to distribute your Content outside of the Yuku and its sublicensees Services."
(May 11, 2009, bold for what they offer, and italics for explanation, both just examples of many more, highlighted by me.)
This seems completely just, fair, what they want, and it is even limited to the time you have your content up there. AND they really help understand it. And they add several contacts and even a legal contact on the very same page.
Where is the hook? I did not find one. I am not a lawyer (so please, if you really want to make sure, ask one), but as I read all of them, this is one of the best.
I am not giving away my privacy, my intellectually property or - as it sometimes feels, my life.
They offer to work with me - as a partner. This is how it should be. Thank you so much for a fair treatment. Thank you yuku.com, and whoever is responsible for this.
(And no, I have no personal interest in yuku or any of its services except as a regular user since today, when I saw this first.)
Lawyers should take note.. You can be very lawyer speaking explicit yet also throw in some natural language too.
ReplyDeleteMuch more common are terms of use like this one: "By posting User Content to any part of the Service or the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Spiceworks an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Service or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing."
ReplyDeleteWhat happens? As soon as I find a viable alternative, I'll be gone and never come back.