[thelist] Copywrite question.....

[CDitty]

Hello all.  I have a copyright question for everyone.  I know that none of
us are lawyers, so a "best guess" is fine.

As many of you know, I run a contest/sweepstakes listing website.  We also
have a forum.  Our information is free to the public.  There is another
site out there that charges for access to their information.  Well, it
seems that there are a few members on her list that are posting her
listings on our forums.  This is against her site policies and she claims
her copyright.

 From what my partner and I can remember from our magazine publishing days,
is that you can copyright your work, ie magazine, book, newsletter, etc.
but not the individual information in it.  Even though the information that
she is publishing is public information and can be found freely on the
internet,, magazines, newspapers, etc, she is claiming we are violating her
copyright.  This is not exclusive contests just for her people to
enter.  We are talking about contests from sites like Sony, GM and other
big name companies.  I would think that the information she is publishing
about these companies' contests are copyrighted by these companies if
anyone at all.

We have asked our people on the forums that if you post information from
another site, to at least re-word it so that you are not copying
word-for-word.  Since her site is a pay to use site, I am not about to pay
for access just in case someone posts the same contest that she has listed
besides the fact that all I would ever do is play guard over my members on
every post they make.

She is now threatening to get attorneys involved if we allow a post on our
board that has appeared in her newsletter.  Am I in the wrong here or is she?

Thoughts?

Chris