On 1 May 2002 Ballew Kinnaman wrote:

> In my view there is not much practical difference between owning
> material and perpetual license to use material in *any* way, but you've
> made that distinction.

Either way, it is not material here -- Yahoo does not claim that right for
Yahoo Groups content.

You need to read the Yahoo TOS, section 8, if you have not done so. It is
very clear that they assert no ownership whatsoever over the Yahoo Groups
content (they say that explicitly, I'm not just inferring it by omission).
The only right they claim for groups content is the right to use the
material in groups which are publicly accessible (defined as those groups
allowing access to both members and visitors, not restricted only to
members), and they claim that right only for the purpose of promoting the
group and then only as long as you leave the content there -- if the
content is removed the right is removed also.  They also explicitly state
that this license to use the content for promotional purposes only does
not extend to groups where access is restricted to members.  All of these
points are very clearly stated in the current TOS, it is not a matter of
nuances of legal interpretation or some such.

I think your previously stated understanding that "... they own ALL
content within the group, and they can do with it as they please, with or
without notice" is a common perception of Yahoo Groups, but is simply
wrong.  I'm guessing perhaps it was true at one time and has been changed.

I don't mean to defend Yahoo Groups in general, but the persistent
statement that they try to claim copyright on or ownership of the message
content is plainly incorrect under their current TOS.

-----
Tom Rawson           [log in to unmask]