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Legalities and Formalities

This section aims to give fanlisting owners some basic guidelines and information about legalities and formalities when making your fanlistings. Although TFL is just a web directory for fanlistings, we have had many concerns raised to us about fanlisting owners breaking copyright or using images and information without permission. TFL does not approve or condone this, so we want some information here for you, the fanlisting owners.

"Official" or "Approved" fanlistings

Having your site listed at TFL.org does not make it 'official'. We are just a web directory and have no contact with agents or celebrities. Claiming your fanlisting is 'official' ie. "the official Orlando Bloom fanlisting" just because it is listed here can cause problems as it appears you have endorsement from the celebrity. Having your site listed at TFL is just that - a listing like any other directory.

This also applies to saying your fanlisting is 'approved'. The best thing to write would be something like, "This is the fanlisting for X, listed at thefanlistings.org" or something similar.

Using information from official sites

If you get any information from an official site for a celebrity or product, do not claim it as your own. Either give a link back or use it as a source for writing your own material. Using any information and claiming it as your own is stealing.

Adult Content

If your site will have adult content (images; links etc) then it may be a good idea to have a warning splash page before the site to warn people about the content.

Using official images or logos

To use official images or logos you need permission from the owner. This may be difficult to get, but you should attempt to get permission or at least give full credit back to the creator.

Using other people's products, information or work

If you find something that you want to use on your fanlisting (as a layout or extras in your site) you must have permission. Using people's work without their permission is stealing and you could face legal action or your web-host may be contacted and your site removed or deleted. Ask permission and if it is granted give credit back to the owners.

Copyright disclaimers

These are a good thing to have on your site. You can give credit to the original owners here, make note of what is your own work and also have contact information if any of the owners want to get in contact with you.

An example for a fanlisting for an actor would be:
© 2005 YOURNAME. This site is not affiliated in any way with ACTOR or their management. This is a non-profit fanlisting.

An example for a fanlisting of an artist and their management:
© 2004-05 YOURNAME. I have no affiliation with ARTISTNAME or MANAGERNAME, this site is just a fan effort.

If you have links to the person/subject's official sites you could add something like:
© 2002-05 YOURNAME. I have no affiliation with ARTISTNAME or MANAGERNAME, this site is just a fan effort. Images on this site came from SITE and SITE.

Where 'Your Name' is, you could link to your main collective/site or an e-mail address for people to be able to contact you. It is a polite thing to link to the subjects site and management's site if they have one. Please note that adding a copyright won't prevent you from being contacted by an agent/owner if you have taken their material without permission, but it can help if you credit everything you have used.

For further information on copyright on the internet, have a look at WhatisCopyright.org.

Support Us

TFL relies on donations and advertising to keep running. There are several ways you can help! Make a donation and get access to the TFL donators package or visit our advertisers. We also have a banner rotation for fanlistings and fansites. Every bit helps! More information can be found on the Support page.

Did You Know?

The TFL Board has a forum devoted just to finding a host, or advertising spaces at your domain. A quick fix if you have any hosting problems! Visit the forum to find out more.