General Points
Var aims to conduct itself in a professional and responsible manner in matters of intellectual property rights. The following are some guidelines that should clarify var's position on copyright and the main points of publishing law in general.
Copyright of all material published in var remains with the author(s).
In case of doubt, var will require contributors to sign a declaration stating that they own the copyright of the submitted work, and to indemnify var against any action(s) with regard to copyright infringement that may result from publication of such work. The declaration will also specifically authorise var to publish the material on var's Internet site(s). Should var wish to republish material in another medium (e.g. print or CD-ROM) it will seek separate permission from the author(s) to do so.
Normal rules of copyright ownership apply to work based on the original work of others (e.g. modified images from print or TV). Taking an image and modifying it does not give you copyright over the original image, only your modifications. To publish found and modified images or text which are the intellectual property of someone else, without their consent is an infringement of copyright, and could result in legal action against the author(s) and var. In such cases var will expect to see written evidence of such consent, indemnifying var against such action. Limited use of parts of copyright works is permitted under copyright law, but no general guideline for this can be given in this document.
You should not assume that just because an image is 'old' it is therefore out of copyright or in the public domain. In particular, graphic copying of images from printed and other publications will infringe the copyright of the specific publication even if the work depicted, or text used, is itself out of copyright.
More specific information on copyright, including discussion of the problems of copyright and the internet, can be found on the website of the Copyright Licencing Agency
In certain cases, var may require contributors to provide a 'model release' in cases where images of recognisable living people are used. This is a precaution against possible legal actions such as libel or breach of contract resulting from publication. Wherever appropriate, the model release should also state any intended accompanying text or caption for the image.
var does not have the resources to undertake copyright searches on behalf of contributors wishing to re-publish the intellectual property of others. Therefore in all cases it is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that all contributed material is either in their own copyright (i.e. entirely their own work) or that all necessary permissions have been obtained. While var's editors will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all published material complies with legislation existing at the time of publication, neither var nor its staff will accept any responsibility for legal action arising from publication of submitted material.
For better or worse, all media published on the web may be easily copied and re-used by any Internet user. You should not assume that var has the capacity to police unauthorised re-use and any material over which you wish to retain strict commercial control should probably be published in a different arena, not on the Internet.
Care should also be taken with regard to publication of trade or other secrets, which could result in prosecution.
Since the Internet is an international publishing medium, contributors wishing to protect their own copyright may wish to include a standard copyright attribution in web pages containing their work. This is required by copyright law in some parts of the world.
Other information on var
Standard model release and contract forms can be supplied to contributors on request.
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