Copyright Information

What is a copyright?

According to Microsoft Bookshelf '95Ž, a copyright is:
"the statutory right of the creator to exclusive control of an original literary or artistic production."

What is the law concerning copyrights?

In a nutshell, copyright laws make it illegal to copy someone's content without their permission.

What can be protected under copyright?

Copyrighted content can exist in many mediums, including, but not limited to, books, magazine articles, music, television shows, videos, software, or web pages.

Legally, you can download, print, and even distribute any content on this website, as long as it's for non-commercial purposes and the material hasn't been modified in any way. Distributing the content on this site does not include the right to post material from this site on another web site. You may also link to this site, (http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/8527/) but not to any of the individual files (such as pictures or other files). You may link to individual web pages as long as those pages are not contained within frames. If you are a web developer, please don't even bother asking me if you can use any of my pictures or articles (such as the trick how-to guide) for your site, because the answer will be "no." This site has already been one the most copied bmx/freestyle sites on the net. All this copyright information applies mainly to web authors. If you create web pages, listen carefully: it is illegal to use anyone's content on your page(s) without his/her permission. This is true even if there is no copyright notice! It applies not only to this site, but to all sites. This means that you are violating the law if you post someone's content (pictures, articles, sounds, videos, etc.) on your site without first asking that person. Technically, that author has every right to sue you. Think of it this way; you'd be in big trouble if you turned in a college paper that was copied word for word out of a book in the library. The web is no different; it may be a bit harder to catch, but it's illegal, nonetheless.

As I travel the bmx/freestyle portion of the net, I keep running into web pages that look exactly (or almost exactly) like mine. My pictures, articles, guides, how-tos, files, and original items keep ending up on other web sites. Not only did most of these people not ask my permission, many even tried to take credit for my work! This sort of stealing will make any author sick. Anyhow, if you see another site with content that looks suspiciously like mine, you can be assured that it was here first. Always be on the lookout for new, innovative bmx & freestyle content here, then look for the same material on other 20inch sites within a few weeks. :)

I realize that when you are first starting a web site that it is hard to make content for your site. At one time this site had only one page with a single paragraph, a couple of links, and three or four pictures. It has now grown to over 20 pages, dozens of pictures, and a couple hundred links. It was hard getting here, but I didn't take the easy (and illegal) way out by copying someone's stuff. Just remember that surfers hate to go from site to site and see the same material, so if you are copying, you are only making yourself look bad. If you need help on your site, e-mail me instead of copying.

Thank you for your time and understanding, Geoff.