Do forum owners own the content?

[The New Guy]

In other words does the forum owner own the rights to all content produced by that forums members?

[Chris]

Most terms when you sign up indicate yes I believe.

[incka]

A dutch lawyer told me that I own what was posted on my forums and the people who post it have no rights to it...

[chromate]

That's paramount to saying a web host owns all the material you upload to their webserver. Is that the case?

[The New Guy]

Hosting is more like parking lot, if you pay for a parking spot the owner of the parking spot does not own your car.

[chromate]

You could say that a forum is a parking spot for your message too though.

[Mike]

I'd think they should do, as big forums wouldn't go to the trouble of removing posts that have coppied content in.

[Chris]

It depends on the user agreement you agreed to when you registered. Most say that the forum owners have the right to all content posted.