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[vinny28]

Hello everyone, im a newbie to this forum and to the whole google adsense world. And like everyone else im starting at the begining and working my way up, but i have a bit of a problem. you see i read that it is easy to get a google adsense account if i made a blog using blogger.com(it was easy). but! i read somewhere else that if you have copyrighted material on the blog that google would reject your request for an adsense account. well i didnt catch that part until after i made the blog. so here i am with this freshly made blog and i dont know if i should apply for adsense or not because i dont understand all the rules. so without giving you the actual blog address(which im sure is prohibited in this forum) i'll just explain what i did. first the blog is on the amazing undefeated run of the football team the new england patriots, this main article (blog) was written by me so im not too wooried about that part. its the images on the side of my blog page that concern me. one image is of the quarterback "Tom Brady" taking his helmet off during a loss.(is the patriot logo or jersey violating the image copyright laws?). i also have a image of 2 coaches shaking hands at the center of the football field after the game both wearing their respective teams logos and colors(is this violating the image copyright laws?). i also have a image of the patriots old logo at the bottom right of the page(is this violating the image copyright laws?). and finally the links in my blog.......one link sends you to wiki-pedia.com on the history of the patriots, the other link sends you to a site called phins.com for a detailed look on the 1972 miami dolphins(was relevant because they were the only team to go undefeated and i used them in my article). the last link takes you too an article in the msnbc.com site about the patriots camera scandal(too support the camera scandal part which was in my article). at the time i thought this was a good idea but since the point is to get approval of an adsense account all of a sudden this page looks like a preview for denial. can i really attach links to website's that have information pertaining to my article(blog), or is this a violation. and later on when i finish my website will i be able to put links on my index page sending my viewers to other sites without breaking any adsense rules? usually i write about sports but since there is so many copyright issues with team names and logos(images on my site or blog) this is a very confusing issue. oh yeah what about live streaming nfl films clips from your website or blog is this a violation of copyright laws. i see alot of people using u-tube on their index pages(a form of video what is the difference?) I've searched and searched the net for these exact answers and i can't find anything on this....any help would be greatley appreciate it. thanks in advance...............
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[koan]

Google AdSense Program Policies [google.com]

[vinny28]

thanks for your reply, but unfortunately im still stuck here, first of all im seeing alot of sights and blogs with pro sports team logos and players pictures. some have ads and some don't, then i read this from the google adsense rule book:

Copyrighted Material

Website publishers may not display Google ads on web pages with content protected by copyright law unless they have the necessary legal rights to display that content. Please see our DMCA policy for more information.

does this mean that if the image that is put on the blog or site has no markings, example:(copyright's by etc, etc)it can be used by anyone or am i missing the point here? im wondering, just because its not marked copyrighted doesn't mean it's not breaking the rules because the logo's are still being shown. this is probably common knowledge to most of you in this forum, but a newbie like myself probably needs to have it explained in greater detail so i don't make a huge mistake. i love writing about sports and it would be a shame if i could not add this to my content, plus i like to support my article's by having links to other sites like espn.com or nfl.com or even msnbc.com that may have articles that are relevant to my topic. but according to adsense im not to use content from news groups? do they mean trying to pass off an article of theirs as my own in my blog or website or does it mean that i cannot have a link to their sites to support my original content? as you can see im am very confused about this so any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you

[koan]

vinny28, you can link to whatever web site you want, obviously, this is the nature of the web. As for using other people's material in any way (pictures, videos), yes that's a breach of copyright, unless you have some agreement with the content provider. Google usually enforce its rule to the degree that a company may complain to them about improper use. So, many adsense users get away with it, others don't.

I will say one thing when I see people using my content. If they add "Material taken from koan's site" with a link back to my original page, I usually let it pass. If they try to pass it on as their content, I turn into Smashing Hulk. They definately don't like me when I'm angry.

So I don't know about your particular topic, but I see what you mean (what's a good sport article without a picture or two of the game). I would certainly add something like "copyright CNN" or something under it, with a link back. But, technically, you're still playing with fire and may not pass Google's inspection.