When contributing articles, submitting a blog, or providing comments or feedback, please use the Editorial Guidelines below in conjunction with all other rules and regulations elsewhere noted.

Linking to other sites
Our members can link to any website provided it abides to all of our Rules and Regulations. SubjectSeek reserves the right to remove a link if we become aware that:

It is broken
It is unsuitable for our audience.

Unsuitable Links

A web page is unsuitable if it contains, or directly links to, anything which is...

Offensive

Pornography & sexually explicit content
Text & images likely to offend most people
Hate sites (on grounds of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation)
Gratuitous violence

Unlawful

Condones or encourages unlawful acts
Breaches copyright law or encourage others to do so (eg: peer-to-peer music sites, illegal downloads of software & games, etc)
Defamation and contempt of court
Hacking or other technical disruption to online services
Describes how to conduct an unlawful act (e.g. bomb-making, fraud etc)
Presents access or safety problems...

Pay-to-view or other subscription sites
Sites which initiate a download
Sites requiring obscure software
18+ sites (eg: gambling)
Foreign language sites with no English language version
Sites requiring registration before any content can be viewed

Lacks value...
 
Pay-to-list directories
Cascading sites (automatically launching numerous windows)

The fact that a link appears on SubjectSeek or an affiliates web page does not mean that SubjectSeek in any way endorses the content of that website and is not responsible for its content or actions.

Broken Links

A Link is classed as broken if it is:

Returning a "page not found" or similar error message
Leading to a hosting portal's "page can't be found" message, or its default homepage
Missing images, audio, video or flash files for sites dependent on these elements.

Defamation

The information provided on this site is intended as a guide only. It does not constitute legal advice.

What is defamation?

It is a law created to protect individuals or organisations from unwarranted, mistaken or untruthful attacks on their reputation. This means the publication of any statement which:

Exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt.
Causes them to be shunned or avoided.
Discredits them in their trade, business or profession.
Generally lowers them in the eyes of right thinking members of society.
 
Posting a defamatory statement on an Internet message board or community area is the same as publishing it in a newspaper or magazine and can result in a court case if a formal complaint is made.

How to avoid it...

Get your facts right. In English law YOU have to prove that what you write is true, rather than the person you've targeted having to prove that you're wrong. And proving things in court can be a very difficult and costly process.

Don't make these common mistakes...

Repeating others...

If you repeat defamatory remarks about people or organisations made by other people, you will be just as liable to be sued as they are.
 
Jumping to conclusions...

If Mr X is seen going into a hotel room with a call-girl, this does not necessarily mean he enjoyed a 'night of passion', and will certainly not prove that he did.

Exaggeration...

Be very careful about the words you use. A factory may release chemicals into the air, but describing it as 'poisoning the atmosphere' could well be defamatory.

Representing all sides...

Presenting both sides of an argument is often good practice, but not a defence against defamation.
 
Innuendo...

To say Mrs Y doesn't recycle her waste paper may sound harmless. But to people who know that Mrs Y is a Green Party activist, the implication is that she is hypocritical in her politics.
 
Inference...

If somebody was guilty of fraud once, calling him a fraudster in a way which might suggest he's still doing the same can be seen as defamation.
 
'Allegedly'...

In spite of its use in a popular current affairs panel game, adding the word 'allegedly' to a statement you cannot prove does not stop it being defamation.
 
What isn't defamation?

You can make negative statements about a large group of individuals, like the government or a local authority, but not about any specific person within those organisations. So it is possible to defame the Prime Minister or the President of the USA, but not their governments.

Dead people cannot be defamed.
Defending a statement.

In the event that you are accused of defamation, there are three main defenses...

Justification...

This is the most common defense against defamation. It means that you have evidence that will stand up in a court of law that can prove what you are saying is true.

Fair Comment...

Honest opinion on a matter of public interest can also be used as a defense against defamation, provided the statement was made without 'malice' and based on established facts. (In legal terms, malice means making a comment based on facts you knew to be untrue, commenting on facts without caring whether they were true or not, or simply setting out to discredit someone.)

Privilege...

There are times when complete freedom of speech, without any risk of defamation, is in the public interest. For example, the Bill of Rights allows MPs to say what they like within the debating chambers of the House of Commons, so they can discuss issues without worrying about being sued.

Intellectual Property and Copyright / Intellectual Property Law & Copyright

The information provided on this site is intended as a guide only. It does not constitute legal advice.

What is copyright law?

Copyright law is just one of a range of legal rights which enable the owner to prevent someone else from using their work without permission or passing it off as their own.
 
Generally speaking, when someone creates something - from a painting to a restaurant review - they have legal ownership of the copyright unless or until they sell or give those rights away.
 
If you are considering contributing anything to SubjectSeek that you haven't created yourself, assume that you don't have the right to do it. It may breach someone's intellectual property rights and it breaks our Terms of Use.

What are the exceptions?

One of the problems with Intellectual Property Law is that it is quite complex. In some circumstances it is OK to include other people's material in your own work, in others it isn't.

Expired copyright

Copyright protection for written work generally lasts for 70 years from the end of the year in which the author died. This means you can quote Shakespeare, Chaucer and Queen Victoria, but not Churchill, Princess Diana or Elvis. Similar principles apply to artwork (such as photographs, paintings or drawings).

Quoting extracts

Short extracts of copyright works can be used without consent as long as they are 'insubstantial' - There is no hard and fast definition of what is or isn't substantial as it depends on the work and the importance of the extract you want to use.

Parody or 'homage'

In limited circumstances you may be able to use an idea from an existing work for the purpose of making a 'parody' of it, provided that you use your own skill and originality in creating your new work, and don't use a 'substantial' part of the work you're parodying.

Fair dealing

There are exceptions in the Copyright Act which allow for what is called 'fair dealing'.

This means:

Using a work for the purposes of criticism or review (as long as you acknowledge it)

Using a work (except photographs) for the purposes of reporting current events.
Even here, the size of the quotations/extracts, how they are used and how proportionate they are to your review or report as a whole may also be considered.

Titles

The titles of books, films or songs won't usually have copyright protection.

Ideas

Ideas themselves are generally not protected by copyright law until they are written down.

And finally...

If you spot anything on SubjectSeek that you think breaches any intellectual property rights, please alert us immediately. Sometimes things slip through, but we will always act swiftly to remove unauthorised material.