Here is an article that I have used to run my forums and lay out the ToS in regards to who owns what and who can do what with the content in our site and forums.
"Who owns the content of a post posted on your forum? How do you respond if someone demands “their” posts be deleted and they threaten legal action if you don’t, but removal of the posts ruins a valuable thread? Where do you as the forum Admin or owner stand?
By default in the non-forum world, authors own the copyright on their own creations. This is an automatic right of the creator of the work, so technically the creator of the post is the copyright owner. However, by posting on a forum, you would have accepted the terms and conditions when you join a forum that covers this type of publication and what it implies. In posting you are accepting that your creative content (ie your post) will be published by the forum administrator and owner, and also that they have the right to edit or do what ever they like with your post as they see fit.
But does that mean that when material is publicly posted in a forum that this implies transfer of copyright ownership? The copyright lawyers can not even agree on this. The reality of the matter seems to be that there is no clear legal precedent yet made on this matter, and therefore until there is, then the issue will remain vague and uncertain. It has never been tested in court, let alone the issue of legal jurisdiction as to country of the Administrator, the country of the servers the forum is hosted in, etc.
What appears to be important is the terms that members agree to when they joined and whether they can withdraw the material they posted if they want to (eg when they leave a forum). To cover yourself, add into the forum rules something to the effect that ‘copyright to forum posts and other information become the property of the forum‘. In my forum rules I have strictly pointed out that all posts become owned by the forum. This gets politely pointed out to those making threats. I never hear from them again."
The article can be found here:
http://www.forumdr.com/who-owns-forum-posts/67/
This article is over 2 years old and at the time of this article note the following; "The copyright lawyers can not even agree on this. The reality of the matter seems to be that there is no clear legal precedent yet made on this matter, and therefore until there is, then the issue will remain vague and uncertain. It has never been tested in court, let alone the issue of legal jurisdiction as to country of the Administrator, the country of the servers the forum is hosted in, etc."
I still have not heard of anyone going to court regarding copyright material on their forums and winning a case about who owns the content.
The way I see it a carefully written ToS is only an agreement between the site/forum owner and the member(s) who create an account to have the "right" to use and post on the owner's site or forums.
If the member(s) break any of the rules of the ToS the site owner has the right to ban or deny access to the member(s) and the site owner is not obligated to remove the content that was posted by any member or the information submitted when they first registered on the site or forums.
In the OP's case he is trying to determine if "they" own the content that was posted on their forums to determine what course of action they can take.
This is going to be difficult for you to prove that the content was even yours to begin with, even if you do have the archives with dates and what not, they will have exactly the same information as you do since they did take your database. Remember everything is on that database.
Only thing that you will probably be able to do is get as many of your forum members to vouch for you and your partner if you are planning going with legal action. I don't see you winning such a case though buddy, sucks but if this goes to court the judge will probably question your ability to a. properly secure your site/forums, b. your partners intentions when giving the web master access to your files via ftp and c. who actually owns the content, your and your partner or the other party.
Most of these cases can be resolved by having an attorney or lawyer write a letter to the other party stating that legal action will be taken if they do not stop using your content. Something like this might cost you a couple hundred dollars but you might be able to get someone to write you one really for free after seeking legal advice.
I had a similar issue resolved by having my cousin who works at a law firm write and send a letter stating that legal action would be used if they did not remove content that was defaming my reputation and character. Although this is slightly different from you situation this is going to probably be the only way to go about this.
Hope this helps you out buddy, good luck!
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