Hi guys,
I work behind the scenes at FISHINGmagic with Graham.
I'm not sure where you've seen excerpts of user reviews published, but let me give you our line on the issue.
As Jay says, while you retain your copyright on any submissions you make to the forum, user review etc. the terms and conditions for using the site are that we can reproduce the content ourselves, or licence its reproduction in any medium. One way we might do this (as now with Castaway Tackle and Tackleshop) is to have the user reviews appear (in whole) next to products on a retailer's ecommerce site. This doesn't involve selling the content, it's simply a means by which we can promote the reviews to other anglers and help out more people making buying decisions.
At the moment we haven't licenced any manufacturers or retailers to use the reviews in print and so if they are doing so it could be taken as a copyright infringement. BUT, when in the past retailers of manufacturers use the reviews to promote their products we tend to see this as a recognition of the power and relevance of the reviews written by FM users on the site, and as an indication that they respect the views of our readers and see them as important. (Obviously as you hold the copyright, in the event of use unlicenced by FM you'd be perfectly within your rights to object in your own right).
If, however, content was being reproduced or used in an unsuitable manner, ie, misrepresented, then we at FM would want to hear about it and follow it up.
At the moment I don't really know how the content is being used, so if you could point me in the direction of where you've seen it that would help.
Thank you,
Maria