Hi,

I sent a bulk email to all members which basically advised of a move to a new server and thanked paid members for their membership as this had enabled the purchase of the new server.

It went on to say a few other things and then finally asked unpaid members to consider purchasing a membership and gave the reasons why.

Now I have just been to one of my members own sites and they have just moved servers and have a new topic posted about the server move .... it is word for word the same text as the email I sent my members.

Does this breach any copyright, can I get them to change the text ?

Theoretically, it might - although I'd be inclined to say "no" because a forum post is not long or significant like an essay or thesis. However, it will seem extremely lame to ask someone to change a forum post because it looks too much like one of yours, which is probably not the sort of impression you want to give.

I am not really bothered about a copyright issue but I just find it annoying that the exact same text as my email has been posted on another site.

I know it would not really look good for me to ask them to change their post but the words were mine and I put a lot of thought into how the mail was worded. Also, it makes it look like our sites are linked as we do have some shared members and I do not want my members to think that is true.

I guess if it has some references to your site, you could ask him to change those. Otherwise, it's probably not worth your time to pursue.

things you write yourself are your intellectual property, so reusing it plainly without permission would be a copyright breach, however in this case (if the reuse bothers you a lot) it might be easiest to ask nicely to change the text to something they write themselves...

If you plan on using the same wording ever again, then I'd say it's within reason to pursue it. If not, you did mass-mail it to your members... I understand your reasoning for the thought of identity linking, but as far as the time and thought gone in to it -- consider the fact that you did such a great job on it, other people took notice. It's flattery, honestly.

Although I find it rather lame to copy it word-for-word, I'd also be flabberghasted if someone actually was upset over the matter. It'd be a little weird to me. But, I'd also change it immediate if asked nicely with reason.

Just ask them to include a footnote this email template was created by your site.

Just ask them to include a footnote this email template was created by your site.

Just ask them to include a footnote this email template was created by your site.