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Quantum Future Group, Inc. is a registered 501 (c) (3) nonprofit U.S. corporation, and Sott.net (Signs of the Times) is a research and news project of QFG including collecting, arranging, and analyzing news items that seem to best reflect the movement of macrocosmic energies on the planet. Sott.net provides independent news, research and analysis on matters of public interest and concern. Sott.net refuses commercial advertising, and makes its news and research available for free to the public and world at large without requirement of subscription or product purchase.

The Sott.net web sites contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Sott.net makes such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, scientific, social justice issues, etc.

U.S. Law

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Pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Act as amended, the rights granted by copyright are limited by the doctrine of fair use as codified at 17 U.S. Code Section 107, including use for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research, all of which are germane to the fair use by Sott.net.

The fair-use factors of Section 107 weigh substantially in favor of fair use by Sott.net, including "the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature [here, no] or is for nonprofit educational purposes" [here, yes]; the nature of the copyrighted work and the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and "the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work" [no effect, as Sott.net is neither selling the work in question nor reproducing it in any tangible format or other medium by which it is either being sold by others or satisfying any end-user demand, if any, for such content.]

EU Law

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Big US companies operating in Europe will be subject to EU law rather than American court orders under the new rules.
As regards the use of copyrighted material within the European Union. The European Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society provides in its art. 5 an exhaustive list of exemptions that can be implemented by the Member States.

Amongst that list, the exemption(s) invoked must cover the reproduction and communication to the public (since the publication on the Internet implies those two acts). Generally, exemptions will be based on the purpose of the intended use. For instance, the Directive provides for an exemption to the exclusive right of reproduction and communication to the public when it is made for the sole purpose of illustration for teaching or scientific research, as long as the source, including the author's name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be impossible and to the extent justified by the non-commercial purpose to be achieved.

Another exemption is "reproduction by the press, communication to the public or making available of published articles on current economic, political or religious topics or of broadcast works or other subject-matter of the same character, in cases where such use is not expressly reserved, and as long as the source, including the author's name, is indicated, or use of works or other subject-matter in connection with the reporting of current events, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose and as long as the source, including the author's name, is indicated, unless this turns out to be impossible".

All the exceptions must comply with the three step test which imply that exemptions must only apply in certain special cases (1) which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work or other subject-matter (2) and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholder (3).

Use of Copyrighted Material by a 3rd Party

If you wish to use copyrighted material from any of Sott.net's web sites for purposes that go beyond "Fair Use" as outlined above, you must obtain permission from the original copyright owner.

The absence of accurate copyright information on any image or other content on Sott.net does not necessarily mean that said work is original content by Sott.net, as quite often the content we reproduce from other sources is either missing copyright information or has been incorrectly attributed.

Original content on Sott.net or that originates from Sott.net (i.e. e-mail sent from Sott.net) is copyrighted by Sott.net/QFG, Inc. You may re-use or re-distribute such content provided that:
  • such use is not for commercial purposes
  • such use falls under Fair Use as defined above
  • you cite Sott.net as the source of such content and provide an active link back to the originating page on our web site where possible, or an active link back to our homepage (http://www.sott.net) otherwise.
Copyright Complaints

Complaints regarding copyright infringement can be sent to our legal counsel:
Cooper, White & Cooper LLP
Attn: Walter W. Hansell
201 California Street, 17th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
USA