Publishing Personal Stories: What Permission is Needed?

Dear Rich: I am creating an online platform for people to share their personal stories that I am going to publish. What kind of legal document do I need to put together? Personal stories? We have a personal story we'd like to post. It's about a blogger who ordered some T-shirts but there was a problem making the registered symbol -- ® -- appear properly on the back (we're not assessing blame just yet) and so the blogger spent a lot of money on shirts with a misplaced ®. It started as a sad story but after some exchanges with customer service, we're starting to think that it will have a happy ending.
Right, you had a question. The good news is that your site can avoid most liability by abiding by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (which shields you from claims of copyright infringement) and the rules set forth in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (which shields you from liability for statements published by others). Keep in mind, you must follow the rules for the shields to work. In general, your concerns for posting personal stories are outlined below:

• Copyright: You should obtain an assurance that the work is original to the author and that the author has the right to permit publication and that the author grants you the limited right to post it online. If you want more rights -- say to publish a collection of stories in eBook format -- you should acquire those rights now. The same is true if you want the option for more rights. You should learn more about acquiring publishing rights 
• Invasion of Privacy and Trade Secrets: Personal stories involve personal details. You need an assurance that the posting won't reveal any personal or trade secrets that will cause you to get sued.
• Children's Privacy: We would suggest avoiding taking any materials from children under 13.  (You can seek an assurance that person submitting the story is 13 or older.) If you start taking information from children under that age, you'll need to deal with a law known as COPPA and that may not be worth the effort.
• Defamation: Personal stories that include untrue statements about others could lead to defamation suits. You need an assurance there's nothing defamatory.

So, in summary, you need permission to publish and assurances that the publications don't violate any laws. These assurances and permissions can be bundled in a click-to-accept statement that the user must agree to before uploading the information. Any electronic method of assent that can be verified -- checking a box, clicking to accept, etc. --  will suffice.

Registering Copyright for Quarterly Online Magazine

Dear Rich: I’m the editor of a magazine that migrated about five years ago from quarterly print publication to online. Initially, we updated the web site on a quarterly basis, but eventually increased posting frequency and now post content virtually every day. We still archive all content accumulated during a particular quarter by that quarter, however, and would like to continue doing so. I need information on filing for copyright registration for a “quarterly” online magazine that posts new content "virtually every day.” Any suggestions? Here at Dear Rich headquarters we like to provide clarity and a sense of reassurance in our answers. Unfortunately your question deals with some murky waters ... group copyright registrations and online publications. Partially, that's because there has been some uncertainty expressed in recent cases as to what group registrations actually protect -- the collection or the individual units of content. Then, there's the fact that the Copyright Office still hasn't taken a position as to whether an online work is published or unpublished (a fact that also affects your registration).
So what's the answer? First, you need to sort out who produced the content -- you, employees, or freelancers? If you or your employees created the works, then you are the copyright owner. If you own copyright in all content, you can register that content by following the guidelines in Circular 66. You should register the journal on a periodic basis -- perhaps timed to major article releases. (There's a saying among patent lawyers: register early and register often and that would apply to your quarterly magazine.) If you're revising the online work, and the revisions are published on separate days, the only for-sure guaranteed protection for the content is that each version of the online work must be registered individually, with a separate application and filing fee (unless it qualifies under one of the two registration exceptions set forth in Copyright Circular 66). That can get expensive at $35 per application  but in a CYA world, that's the only surefire guarantee of claiming statutory rights. Make sure to list the titles of all articles in the journal. If you don't claim copyright in individual articles, you may wish to claim the collection of articles -- not necessarily the content -- and you should consider serial registration as explained in Circular 62B. If freelancers created the articles, you don't own copyright in the individual articles unless there is an agreement in place. (If a freelancer owns copyright the freelancer should register his or her article using either the eCo system or Form CO.) Whew!
Just in case you weren't aware. Copyright registration is not essential for claiming copyright. You get that automatically. But if you want to claim statutory damages or you want a shot at attorney fees, registering the work prior to infringement is essential.