Copyright and Other Legal Issues

NicaLiving.com respects copyright law. Users of this web site need to recognize that Monos Media, S.A. has an obligation to remove material posted without permission.

In most parts of the world, the author of something automatically receives the copyright. What this means is that if you are not the author, unless you are granted the right to use that material, you cannot publish it here. Note that even if there is no copyright message in the material, the default is that it is under copyright.

How might you be allowed to user material that is under copyright? The material might include "terms of use", for example. Or, you could explicitly get permission from the copyright owner.

Under copyright law there is also a fair use clause that allows restricted use of material under copyright without permission. For example, fair use is commonly used for quotes in book reviews or if you want to discuss a specific point made in material under copyright. See the Book Reviews gallery here for examples.

What constitutes fair use is up for debate. Some, for example, claim that includes any educational use. While any makes no sense (everything is, in some way, for educational use) there is likely some middle ground. That's well and good but I don't want to get into a copyright infringement war nor do I want to be editing and deleting posts because of copyright considerations.

So, here's the official policy here.

• By default, anything posted here is owned (copyright) by the author. The author, by the act of posting the material is granting Monos Media, S.A., owner of NicaLiving.com the right to use that material as they see fit.
• If you wish to grant other rights (re-publication to others, for example, release information to the Public Domain) state that at the end of your post.
• If you wish to post something with an existing copyright, secure the right to use the material from the copyright owner and include a note to this effect at the end of the post.
• In most cases, linking to original material is permitted. I say in most cases because, for example, a direct link to an image that appears as part of article under copyright is likely not in compliance with copyright law.

Other Legal Issues

The copyright that Monos Media, S.A. claims is on the collection and presentation. As stated above, the actual content, unless otherwise stated, is property of the author. Beyond removal of information that is an obvious copyright violation, personal attacks, and posts not related to the general theme of the site, Monos Media, S.A. does not get involved in content issues. The site design permits differing opinions and, in general, thrives on those differences.

If you feel information in a post is inaccurate, you are encouraged to post either a comment or new information which illuminates the error. This makes it possible for other NL readers to see sides to issues and form their own conclusions. That said, there are guidelines.

When refuting information you consider in error, address the information. Offer resources (links) which support your position. The goal should be to offer other readers a chance to understand your position, not to attack the source of what you consider misinformation.

In some cases, you feel it appropriate to contact the author to discuss the information they have presented. If you don't have other contact information, you can use the PM (personal message) facility of the site. Once you are logged in, just click on the Author's handle, that which follows Submitted by in an article header to get to the Author's Profile. From there, there, click on Write private message and send your message.

Note that any information about an author, beyond what you find in their profile, is not available from Monos Media, S.A. For example, an author's email address is private and only saved for use in site administration issues such as password recovery.