hallucinatingfarmer wrote: if someone copied (real life) copywrited material into Cantr - would that player be liable, or would cantr.net be liable for hosting an illegal publication of something copywrited?
No, Cantr couldn't be held liable for it, unless, Jos and staff refused to remove the offending piece from the game when the original creator came calling or took any other action that added to or perpetuated the violation.
Most violations are solved between the author and the person ripping them off because most are commited by people who aren't doing it out of malice, but because of ignorance of the law. A simple explaination and apology normally solves the problem. Most of the cases that go any farther involve large companies, such as when Disney stole the concept and chars for "Finding Nemo" and even more recently, the controversy that surrounded "Kingdom of Heaven" when it was released. Of those, almost all are settled out of court with a fat check because the company knows they messed up. "Finding Nemo" is an excellent example of such a major up. Disney didn't even change the names of many of the minor characters, much less a myrid of other details such as char color and even the storyline when they ripped it off from a childern's book by a French author (can't remember his name).
@TLHE:
Your question would depend on the player, some of us, like me, wouldn't give a damn, others, however, could look to mount your head on the wall. I would say, either contact the player, or use it and make it unrecognizable as coming from the source it came from.