Whose user-generated content is it anyway?

This month’s Develop magazine carries an interesting article on the ownership of User-Generated Content.

Tahir  Basheer of Sheridans points out the case law around this is very unproven. He questions for example, what happens if a publisher turns off their servers thus denying users access to assets that they created and owned.

The thrust of the article is that the legal environment of user generated content is changing very quickly and anyone who is incoporating it into their games not only needs a good End User Licence Agreement, they need to watch the ongoing arguments (like youtube/Viacom) very carefully to see which way the wind is blowing.