Please note that if anyone asks for their ws to be re installed on your site, they are within the law (US) to demand it. �Please see wiki on fair use (particularly the reference to "fair use on the internet")

Thanks for the link. I�ve had a look at the article and this is what I understand:

Fair use allows us to use small parts of copyrighted material taking into account these factors:

 

- The purpose should be different from the original. For example, if we take a cooking recipe (copyrighted) and use it to make an ESL worksheet, it would be fair, because the purpose is quite different. If we use the images from an "actions verbs ESL worksheet" to make a new "actions verbs ESL worksheet" it wouldn�t be fair.

 

- The publication of the "copy" should not harm the copyright owner�s market. In the previous example, a cooking website would not lose visitors because we had published a worksheet with their recipe. On the other hand, an ESL website might lose visitors if similar resources (copied from them) are published in other websites.

 

- The amount of the work that has been copied should not be too high. If we take some pictures from here and there and then we add some exercises, it is fair. If we take all the pictures from another worksheet and paste them in a word document, just adding some lines to write the names, it is not fair, because we have added nothing new.

 

All this is what I understand from the link. I�m going to study it deeply, because I�m very interested on this.

 

As for the right to ask for a worksheet to be reinstalled, this website has got rules, and users have accepted them when they registered.

 

A suggestion for you to ponder.  What about putting a clause in your agreement which says that

"The author of the website has the descretion to remove any worksheet"  or something more technically written...

 

This will ensure you do not have to worry about some crazy person holding you accountable for decisions over worksheets being stolen. 

Thanks

It is interesting isn�t it? �

Especially the part about thumbnails (i.e using google search and simply right click on the image and save as).

If I understand you correctly, we can use pretty much any image to create a ws as long as it�s not a complete copy of a ws on another site? �Also if we use images from sites that are not related to teaching we�re fine?

Don�t worry about being held aqccountable, as in the precedent in the article the company that ordered the removal was in trouble not youtube.

One point of interest the youtube video in the article is still on youtube, with lots of supporting and insulting comments from both sides, and ironically thousands more viewers than it would have otherwise got. :) The outcome of this will have implications for everyone. �It�s interesting that the video in question only has the song playing for 30 seconds in the background and you can bearly hear it. �There is a lot of other videos on youtube which are blatant copies of tv shows, songs etc...