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Welcome to the 'Heavy Legal Stuff' section of the h2g2 FAQ. This is where you can find information about our privacy policy, our terms and conditions, and copyright issues.
The information provided on this site is intended as a guide only. It does not constitute legal advice. The BBC does not accept any responsibility, and expressly disclaims all liability, for any errors, omissions or misstatements, or for any loss caused to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of, or in reliance upon the information contained in this website.
If you want to see a complete list of questions answered by the h2g2 FAQ, you can go to the h2g2 FAQ Index at any time.
Contents of this Section
What's h2g2's policy on privacy?
It's important to us that you enjoy the privacy that you want, and to ensure that you know exactly where we stand on the subject take a look at the BBC's Privacy Policy, which covers all sites across bbc.co.uk, including h2g2.
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What are your Terms and Conditions? And are they scary?
The Terms and Conditions of being a Researcher on h2g2 can be found here; everyone agrees to these terms on registration. Everyone also agrees to the House Rules.
And no, they're not scary. They're just sensible.
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Where's your copyright notice for the site?
To see the site's copyright notice, visit the copyright message for bbc.co.uk. For details of what copyright we have over what you post to h2g2, see this question.
For a discussion of how copyright law affects what you can contribute to h2g2, see the entry on h2g2 and Intellectual Property Law and the other questions on this page.
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Can I contribute material that I haven't written myself, or include things like quotations from other people?
It depends...
To answer this question, we've put together a discussion of how copyright law affects what you can contribute to h2g2. See the entry on h2g2 and Intellectual Property Law for more information.
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What's the copyright situation with entries that are written by more than one person, like Edited Entries?
Here are some general points regarding copyright in contributions on the h2g2 site:
In the Terms and Conditions for bbc.co.uk, the BBC only takes a non-exclusive licence from contributors who submit works for publication on sites like h2g2, so the contributor still retains ownership of the copyright in the work that they contribute to the h2g2 site.
If the BBC only makes minor edits to a submitted work, the copyright in the work will remain with the contributor. This is separate from the issue of permitting the work to be published, as the BBC is able to refuse publication if it considers it appropriate to do so editorially, and likewise, having consent from the contributor due to the licence in the Terms and Conditions, the BBC is able to publish it.
However, if the BBC heavily edits contributed work, this may be a separate, derivative work which the BBC would own copyright in (depending on the nature and extent of the BBC's modifications).
Assuming that Edited Entries contain contributions from many people, including those from the original author, anyone whose Peer Review contributions have been incorporated, the Sub-editor, the in-house editors who make the final edits, and in some cases, the artist who adds a picture, and that it is the BBC that edits all these elements together to create the Edited Entry, it would be the BBC that owns the overall copyright in the Edited Entry. The contributors would continue to own the underlying rights in their individual contributions, including the BBC, who itself might be an underlying right owner depending whether it were to add any substantive copy itself. To republish the Edited Entry, someone would need permission from the BBC, but according to the Terms and Conditions, the non-exclusive licence granted by the contributor to the BBC includes the right to sub-licence, so there would be no need to ask the permission of other individual contributors as well.
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What's the copyright situation with 'derivative' entries, like those produced in the Flea Market?
First, it's useful if we set out some general law on derivative works. Some points to note are:
Whether or not a derivative work is created will depend on whether sufficient skill and labour was expended on it, but assuming that it is, the person who was responsible for that skill and labour will be the author of the new work. So, for example, if the BBC takes a contribution and significantly edits, develops and/or adds to it, it may have created a derivative work which it will own the copyright in (this may be the case with Edited Entries, see question above). The original contributor of course remains the owner of the copyright in their contribution.
If the BBC is just revising a contributor's work, by correcting and/or improving it, whether or not a derivative work is created will depend on the amount and value of the modifications. If there is no new derivative work, the BBC will have been the author of the alterations, but they won't themselves attract copyright protection.
If a new copyright work is created from a contributor's work, the contributor's rights in the new work will depend on how much of their work remains in the new work. If the new work contains a substantial reproduction of their original work, the contributor's licence will be required to exploit it.
With regards to the h2g2 Editorial Process, it is clear that contributors' works may be used on the site by either the BBC or other contributors to potentially create derivative works through the Editorial Process and schemes like the Flea Market. If so, the contributor's licence will be required where the new work contains a substantial part of their work (which would probably be in most cases).
This is covered by the Terms and Conditions. They provide the BBC with a 'perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to any such work worldwide...'. So, essentially, when contributors send in works, they are giving the BBC a licence to modify their work/make derivative works from it, and also, they are giving the BBC the right to sublicense those rights to third parties - including other members of the h2g2 Community.
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I can't post defamatory material to h2g2, but what on earth does 'defamatory' mean?
You can find a detailed discussion of defamation and what this means to h2g2 in our entry on h2g2 and Defamation.
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