« Expired domain name – has it been bought?

Website copyright: once a website no longer exist and has outdated copyright, who can use the old content?

mcneelys2000 asked:

Hi,

I bought an expired domain recently and was thinking about using some of the old content it had. But, the old content showed:

I found the old site content on archive.org. Since the old owner no longer owns this site nor domain, the copyright is outdated (2003) and I bought the domain rights – does this allow me to use the old content?

Any answers that revolve around legality would be appreciated.

Thanks
Isn’t there a difference be online copyright and other copyrights?

Comments (5) Posted in Law & Ethics

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5 Responses to 'Website copyright: once a website no longer exist and has outdated copyright, who can use the old content?'

Phoenix - May 21st, 2010 at 9:14 am
The copyright is not outdated. Copyrights last for the life of the author plus 70 years. The only thing you bought was the domain name. All other content belongs to the previous owner.
shroomigator - May 24th, 2010 at 5:14 am
Copyrights in the United States currently last 75 years. You would not be able to legally use the content without permission from the Author. After the copyright is expired, anyone can use the content.
Hershey - May 26th, 2010 at 10:41 am
You can NEVER use something once it has been copyrighted – even if the domain has expired.
BigD - May 28th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Copyrights last for life of the author + 70 years

Not everything is copyrightable. But i can’t tell if it is or is not without more details – for example, facts are not copyrightable. So if this is simply an archive, the content would not be copyrightable, but the author’s choice of arangment would be. so you may be able to take the raw data and display it in a new way

another consideration is what you actually bought when you bought the domain – but i suspect that you got nothing other than the domain name.

good luck!
abqdan - May 30th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
The copyright statement records the year the content was created, not the year the copyright expires. Copyright exists for 70 years after the death of the originator, thanks to Sonny Bono, who pushed that through when he was in congress.

You cannot legally use anything copyright without the express permission of the originator, unless they have published a creative commons or other general license.

Note that all original works are copyrighted, REGARDLESS of whether a copyright notice is published – the notice only serves to demonstrate the year that the content was created; it isn’t necessary to protect the work.