UK Copyright Law
In order for a creation to be protected by copyright law it must fall within the following definition given by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988:
(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part in the following descriptions of work–
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.
Criticism, Review, Quotation and News Reporting
Smashbomb is a website that is geared around user recommendations, reviews and comment.
Fair use (or ‘fair dealing’) with a work for the purpose of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement (unless this would be impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise) and provided that the work has been made available to the public.
To fall within ‘fair use’ for the purposes of criticism/review we must be able to display that:
(1) The work has previously been made available to the public;
(2) The dealing is ‘fair’;
(3) No more of the work is taken than what is required; and
(4) The dealing is accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement (where applicable and possible)
At Smashbomb, we take this very seriously. We have enormous respect for artists, creators, and other copyright holders and we will always ensure that we are operating in such a manner that does not constitute copyright infringement on any level.
Intellectual Property Rights
Our Rights
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material we publish on it. Those works are protected by UK copyright law. All such rights are reserved.
We accept no liability whatsoever for any infringements that may occur via user’s posts on our site. In the event that any infringements occur, once notified, we will remove the offending post and fully investigate the complaint.
In the event that we infringe any third party rights, once notified, we will immediately remove the disputed content and will formally investigate the infringement. If we are found to infringe we will issue a formal apology.
If any third party believes that their Intellectual Property rights have been infringed by any of the users of our site, immediately get in touch with hello@smashbomb.com so that we can fully investigate and remove any offending content.
Users of our site, may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal reference and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to material posted on our site.
Users of our site, must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the copyright holders of material on our site must always be acknowledged.
Users of our site must not use any part of the materials on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If users of our site, print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and users must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials users have made.
We respect third parties’ Intellectual Property rights, and we expect users of our site to do the same whilst using our site:
1. Users of our site will not post reviews or take any action on our site that infringes or violates a third parties’ intellectual property rights.
2. Users of our site will not post reviews or take any action on our site that is in anyway a breach of any other laws.
3. We acknowledge that users of our site will own the copyright in their review posts.
4. By posting a review on our site users automatically accept and agree that we are licenced to use and reproduce posted content so that inter alia the review can be recreated and posted anywhere on our site or by us on third party websites or media
5. By posting content on our site, users agree that in the event that any content posted is an infringement of any third parties’ rights, users are solely liable, including, for any actions any third parties’ may choose to bring against users because of posted content on our site.
6. If we remove content inter alia on the basis that we believe or have been advised that the content is infringing someone else’s intellectual property rights, and users believe we removed it by mistake, there is an opportunity to submit an official complaint and appeal to hello@smashbomb.com.
7. If users repeatedly infringe third parties’ intellectual property rights, we reserve the right to disable such accounts.
8. Users will not use Smashbomb Limited’s Intellectual Property rights without prior written permission from Smashbomb Limited.
9. By posting content on our site users agree to indemnify Smashbomb Limited against any, and all, claims that may arise due to posted content.
10. We can, and will, remove any reviews users post on our site if we believe that such posts violate this Statement.
If you have any questions or issues relating to the above, please do contact us at hello@smashbomb.com