As the Server of this entire Site is located in Germany, it is subject to the currently very restrictive (and to some extend unfair) copyright laws in effect here.

In plain language :
Make sure you or noone else posts or uses copyright protected material in this Forum.

Based on previous legal "entanglements" already occured with other German hosted Forums and Websites, that includes :

- Links to illegal/pirated Media
- Copyright protected Song Texts
- Copyright protected Images (Full Image, Signature or Avatar)
- direct Quotes from Copyright protected print magazines

All Users are highly encouraged to re-check their imagery (if not selfmade) for potential copyright claims by 3rd party.
Normally, this is only the case for Images taken from other sites or aquired e.g. by Google Image search.
If so, go back to these Sites and confirm that the Images are not subject to copyright claims.

(so far, no case from hughe companies like intel, AMD, NVidia, ATI, VIA or alike is known, which many have in their Signatures - therefor these or comparable Images are still considered safe for use)
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Why this reminder?

Basically - pending an urgent change in German law - every violation can end up in legal affairs that are annoying, time-consuming and potentially expensive in nature.
In the Past and Present, more and more German Sites are being hit by legal claims, with various outcome. Over here, not few smaller Sites had to close down after encountering financial desaster.

Having the Forum being not Index-able by Search Engines helps against automated campaigns, but it has been already observed that smaller Copyright Holders intentionally sign up with Forums under false identity in order to commit copyright infringment and subsequently launch a legal campaign against the Site holder.

Any such campaign would be opposed by all legal means from my side without hesitation, but it's naturally alot nicer to keep things running settled and calm as they remain now...

As the entire Site is fully international, the aim is not to scare off Users but allow for maximum permissible tolerance (as it has been so far) while still keeping the Site out of trouble and enjoyable for everyone without studying german law (which AFAIK qualifies as a violation of the UN convention of human rights itself ;) )