Regrettably, this site is closed until further notice. It has come to the Webmaster's attention that some materials on this web site are legally copyrighted by International GYMNAST magazine and/or International GYMNAST Online. While these materials were used without the Webmaster's knowledge of their legal copyrights, this does NOT justify their use. I do not know who reported this, but I thank this person if they exist - it was a wake up call for me and I hope that it is one for you as well.

This is a warning to all gymnastics webmasters. Do not use any graphic images and/or text without permission from the legal copyright holders/owners. This includes television captures which are obtained by some Webtv users. Those images are copyrighted by the broadcasters and it is illegal to use those materials on the Internet without written permission.

This site will re-open when all of the images are removed, except for the handful that are definitely public domain. I encourage all of you not to take images and/or text from ANY site, not just International GYMNAST (which, it seems, has been having several difficulties with copyright infringement in recent weeks). Because, if no one would have done it in the first place, it could not have happened on this site (though, obviously, that does not justify its happening by any means).

In my time as webmaster of this site, I have come across several blatant copyright infringements. I am not here to name names, only to warn. If you have anything on your website of unknown origin, I implore you to remove it immediately. Such items as news reports from the Associated Press, USA Today, etc. are examples of copy (text) infringement. I know for a fact that written permission must be obtained from those entities to legally reproduce any of their materials.

Linking to images without uploading them to your own server (aka stealing bandwidth) is also illegal, because the image still appears under a different server, even though it does not technically "reside" there.

I would like to take this opportunity to, one last time, encourage all webmasters to take heed of this. Do not consider images found "floating" on the Internet to be public domain and/or assume that images without credit information are public domain, because that is probably not so.

Finally, I would like to extend my apologies to International GYMNAST. Their magazine/website is wonderful and should stay within itself. I hope that this message will reach many people and bring this problem to their attention so that it may be stopped. Remember, the World Wide Web is a big place. Use it, don't abuse it.

Respectfully,
Nicholle Bankston, Webmaster
The Ultimate Gymnastics Website

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