Comments on: Website copyright: once a website no longer exist and has outdated copyright, who can use the old content?

By: abqdan

abqdan — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:39:01 +0000

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.

By: BigD

BigD — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:38:19 +0000

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!

By: Hershey

Hershey — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:41:40 +0000

You can NEVER use something once it has been copyrighted – even if the domain has expired.

By: shroomigator

shroomigator — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:14:36 +0000

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.

By: Phoenix

Phoenix — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:14:11 +0000

The copyright is not outdated.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.