UBB.Developers Forums General Discussion Chit Chat buy/sell/trade privacy question

Hi, my members have decided they would like a section and a forum of my site to be about buying/selling/trading of music. I think this would be a great idea, but I have a few questions about it.

1) could I (as the webmaster) be held responsible for anyone that is ripped off?

2) if answer to question 1 is yes, is there anything I could do to make me not responsible?

Thanks in advance.

As the webmaster, it is your responsibility to provide a portal for people to do this. Personally, I don't think legal action could be taken. Add a little disclaimer saying "I am not responsibile for you being ripped off" or something more. It is the BUYERS responsibility to contact the proper people. You can just provide access to buyers and sellers.

1) I doubt it, your not the one buying anything so you shouldn't be responsible IMO.

If you are talking about MP3s you can definitely be liable if anyone trades or sells copyrighted music. (Remember Napster )

If your discussing actual CDs/tapes/records then it shouldn't be a problem provided:

1) You make it very clear that everything sold must be OEM recordings and NOT copies of recordings.
2) Provide a disclaimer that states, "We do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the Classifieds in terms of each listing's correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability, availability, or otherwise. The author of the classified listing shall be solely responsible for the accuracy of the information provided."

Alright, thanks guys. Yes, it will be real CD's and other music merch. No burned CD's or anything. Thanks again.

Makes for very good reading...

http://www.eff.org/legal/

Thanks much, QuickSI. That's some interesting info they have there.