Ser wrote: ... Do you think it would be an overreach because it's impossible to get all users who ever posted in HTLAL to agree to have their content reposted elsewhere? Is it because FX in some way has certain restrictive rights to the posts?
I do understand you're not providing me legal advice, in fact it's not even an area you're knowledgeable about as you say, but I'd still like to hear your thoughts or speculation. ....
Thanks Ser. Normally I am quite content to attempt to bluff my way through any number of things I know nothing about, but the area of intellectual property is not one of them, as it is a fairly technical area. So, I am reluctant to say much of anything, as whatever I do say is as likely to be right as it is to be wrong.
But for what it may be worth, I don't believe the issue would be that FX acquired any restrictive rights to the individual posts themselves. What specifically he acquired is only a non-exclusive right to publish those comments, etc. His right is not any greater than the right of the individual posters who provided the posts; they retain the right to publish their posts elsewhere (that is, it is entirely a different scenario from that of a writer who sells her manuscript to a publisher - like would have been the case with me at several points if only the publishing world had the good sense to recognize my extreme genius).
Where FX would have a legitimate complaint would be if his site were to be copied and hosted without permission elsewhere - what is being improperly taken (with every good intention, only in the interests of preserving information, etc) would be his proprietary interest in the format of the website, his spiffy logo (the spinning thing), his organization, years of developing and growing the website, its reputation (now tarnished, sadly), goodwill and possible attraction to advertisers.
If I spent some portion of years of my life growing a website, successfully monetized it by attracting advertisers, and then learned that someone appropriated it, I would be as angry as Zoldan the Furious, main character in my as yet unpublished yet extremely geniusy novel, "Zoldan Hires a Lawyer and Travels to Lausanne, Switzerland").
APPLICABLE LAW
By visiting how-to-learn-any-language.com, you agree that the laws of Lausanne, Switzerland, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Conditions of Use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and how-to-learn-any-language.com.
Though practically speaking, sounds like he may not care.
I recall that others had posted variously in the past on this sort of issue, and seemed to know what they were talking about. I believe zenmonkey may have been one of the posters, among others.