Will Yahoo ever publish a book containing questions and answers posted on Yahoo Answers?

Question

Would Yahoo ever be able to make our answers copyright? If that happened then our answers would no longer be our own. How would that work?

If I saw a book like this in a bookstore and I saw an answer I had provided in it, I would be offended if I then found it to be copyrighted and that it was the property of Yahoo.

Answer 1

good idea put it on the suggestions board i bet a lot of people would buy it

Answer 2

You've already lost the copyright. According to the term of service, any questions or answers you provide on Yahoo!Answers becomes their property, and are no longer your own. You agreed to the TOS when you signed up, so they can do whatever they want with your contributions.

For what it's worth, though, I doubt they'll bring out a book. I mean, all the content is publicly available for free, so publishing a book would cost them a lot of money and probably very few people would bother to buy it since they could get the same content (and more) here for free by using the search function.

Answer 3

I've asked myself the same question. I don't give any information that would compromise my anonymity. According to their terms and conditions Yahoo maintains copyright of these answers. However, if you think about it, this forum is just a big on-line book that anyone can read. This said, a published version which people would buy, means that Yahoo would make a profit from a public forum, and I think this would offend me greatly. When you respond to answers you are responding to the questioner either to help them out, or to provide an alternative viewpoint, or to express a similar feeling and share thoughts. The idea of Yahoo profiting from this just annoys me.

Answer 4

Thats a good point, I never thought of it that way, and I might be offended too, but probably not, and I think that would actually make a very interesting book.

Answer 5

Good question, but I don't think they could copyright all our answers, considering the amount of questions that would cover.

Answer 6

you never know but I wouldnt put it past an answerer............I had thought of doing that when I used aol. with their blogs etc. but using my screen name as a title and keeping other screen names anonymous.....I have 3 names floating around that I would say many many people would recognize.

Answer 7

Oh i hope so, because then I (ME) will be in the book and obviously on the cover too ......

Tar for asking x

Answer 8

gd question i neva thought about it in that way. well done! yes i would be affended too if they didn't get my permission before putting something of mine in the book but at the same time i would be happy that i am mentioned in the book. if u know wat i mean. lol

Answer 9

Good Question. You should try recommending it!

Answer 10

Yahoo's Terms of Service address this. See the paragraph I put the asterisks next to:

9. CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE

Yahoo! does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service. However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Yahoo! the following worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license(s), as applicable:


With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.

With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo! removes such Content from the Service.

***With respect to Content other than photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Groups, the perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

"Publicly accessible" areas of the Service are those areas of the Yahoo! network of properties that are intended by Yahoo! to be available to the general public. By way of example, publicly accessible areas of the Service would include Yahoo! Message Boards and portions of Yahoo! Groups, Photos and Briefcase that are open to both members and visitors. However, publicly accessible areas of the Service would not include portions of Yahoo! Groups that are limited to members, Yahoo! services intended for private communication such as Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger, or areas off of the Yahoo! network of properties such as portions of World Wide Web sites that are accessible via hypertext or other links but are not hosted or served by Yahoo!.