Interesting point, that someone must agree to terms, before they are binding. I'd say a valid and important factor.

I can't find the post that someone quotes a REAL lawyer as saying, they can't enforce anything. "They can pound sand" paraphrased, Let me say... I'm an Internet Forum Lawyer and of course we know best. 😉 /.s

I have lawyer fiends, some of them are actually nice people and a couple have a sense of humor too. The best of all is a Federal criminal defense attorney. Hey, there's an interesting area? But when I ask or comment or discuss an opinion about copyright and trademark issues, he says, that's not his area. Smart guy. There are people who only do copyright and trademark and rights litigation as their practice. They don't agree on what is protected and what's not and how things should be protected or if they aren't.

All I can say is, from the position that I work in photography and have to know the laws, for my own protection and my own avoidance of being sued, anything that's put onto a website is protected and copyrighted. We had this debate before (and will again) two people can't own the copyright to the same image. BUT... if I take a photo, make a scan, and image, Etc. and give TCG the right to use that image, they now have rights for that use and the image is still protected. Someone else can't just drop in and borrow it.

Some reading for the other Internet Forum Lawyers: https://www.termsfeed.com/blog/protecting-website-copyright-violations/#:~:text=The%20truth%20is%20that%20your%20work%20is%20under,its%20respective%20creator%20and%20is%20protected%20by%20copyright.

And what the US Government says? Copyright law protects a work from the moment the author creates and fixes it in a tangible form of expression, such as on paper, in a recording, or in a digital photograph. (Or in other words, on a website) That and more current, on a side note, this must be done by a human, not AI or a machine.

Whether eBay says, you can use images or not, the original creator of that image, has copyright protection. I suppose if the eBay TOS say, any image you upload becomes public domain, and anyone can use it, then there's a case for people agreeing to give up their rights. I haven't wasted a day looking for that clause in the eBay Terms.

And the end of all of this. The Chip Guide needs to give notice that their images are protected, but allowed to be used under the Creative Commons License. (the one that says you must credit the source of the image)

The guide could add a watermark to all images. Same the original set and add to the images that are available on the web.

And that way, fair notice has been given and TCG won't have to be chasing around, finding and personally giving requests and notice that people can use the images but attribution is required.

My points are mainly, to be proactive on the Chip Guide site, which would solve some of the opinion and use conflicts before they occur.