Frequently Asked Questions

This page contains Frequently Asked Questions we have received from contributors to the Tree of Life. Please refer to the page on Frequently Asked Questions about ToL MacClade for information about using MacClade.

• I would like to author a Tree of Life page, but I don't have the time or computer resources to create the HTML files myself. Can I get some technical help in creating my pages?
  
  
• Who owns the copyright for the content of the Tree of Life pages?
  
  
• Are my pictures protected by copyright or will people steal them?
  
  
• I have just published a review paper on my clade; can I reuse that text in the Tree of Life?
  
  
• Can I reuse illustrations that I created for a printed publication on my Tree of Life pages?
  
  
• I would like to use somebody else's pictures on my Tree of Life page. What do I need to do?

I would like to author a Tree of Life page, but I don't have the time or computer resources to create the HTML files myself. Can I get some technical help in creating my pages?

Technical help is currently available at the homesite. Upon request, we provide full composition services, and we assist authors in getting started and in trouble shooting preliminary pages. Authors who would like assistance should contact us at treegrow@ag.arizona.edu.

Please be sure to look at the page on Preparing Text and Figures for Others to Compose if you would like to take advantage of this service.

Who owns the copyright for the content of the Tree of Life pages?

We're not lawyers, so we might not be accurate with the following comments, but here is the situation as we understand it. If you wish to read all the details, please see Karla Tonella's Copyright and Multimedia Law for Webbuilders and Multimedia Authors.

Authors own the copyright for their Tree of Life pages, while David and Wayne Maddison own the copyright for the Tree of Life design and icons. It seems that the current copyright laws do not yet explicitly cover many issues having to do with electronic dissemination of images or text. Nonetheless, the general feeling of the community is that your work is copyright protected, and you have legal recourse if people take your images or text and publish them without obtaining appropriate permission. Some folks state very clearly that copyright laws are enforceable for Web publication as they are for other forms of publication. It also seems clear that copyright laws that explicitly consider electronic dissemination are not a long way off, as this is an area of active work in various governments.

Are my pictures protected by copyright or will people steal them?

Please see comments on the previous question. We require Tree of Life authors to include an appropriate copyright statement for all the images on their pages. This gives authors legal recourse should their material be reused without permission.

On the other hand, there are some elements of the Internet community who do not respect ownership, and are willing to use the quick tools available to grab and reuse pictures and the like. So even if you have legal protection, people may still steal the stuff, and it may be a pain to get them to back off and not use your pictures. I think this will be a bit greater of a concern in some groups that more people care about (e.g. dinosaurs) than others that fewer people care about (although more should) (e.g. ground beetles).

One thing important to note is that pictures published on the web are generally of too low a quality to be republished on a printed page, without a great sacrifice in quality. This is especially true if you use lower-quality GIF images.

I have just published a review paper on my clade; can I reuse that text in the Tree of Life?

See the page on Copyright Issues for a discussion of this topic.

Can I reuse illustrations that I created for a printed publication on my Tree of Life pages?

See the page on Copyright Issues for a discussion of this topic.

I would like to use somebody else's pictures on my Tree of Life page. What do I need to do?

See the page on Copyright Issues for a discussion of this topic.