Would it be possible to hire a lawyer to write new terms of use?

[Tommy]

Every now and then, questions arise concerning copyright and no one of us can answer them properly.

http://tatoeba.org/sentences/show/3854073

http://tatoeba.org/wall/show_message/21649

http://tatoeba.org/wall/show_message/16837

Eight years ago, I was shocked when my favorite website International Music Score Library Project was shut down for nine months due to copyright issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Music_Score_Library_Project#Closure_and_reopening

While some Tatoeba members told me we wouldn't need to care so much about copyright, I fear this could happen to Tatoeba as well, which has grown so big now and keeps growing faster.

It also seems that we're actually missing some potential contributors. One of the earliest remarks about Tatoeba in Japanese that I found is this one: https://twitter.com/webjapaneseJ/status/19732253538000896. It roughly says, "It's an interesting attempt, but be careful, the terms of use are not really transparent."

Trang said that she wants to revise the terms of use, but I doubt that any one of us really has enough knowledge to do it. I wonder if it's not possible to hire a lawyer to write new terms of use that state clearly what contributors and reusers should and should not do.

When asking for donation, Trang wrote about hiring people, so it might be OK to hire a lawyer using it.

http://blog.tatoeba.org/2014/06/donations.html

Here are some of many questions I have. Is there anyone here who can answer them with confidence?

-Are we allowed to quote sentences from copyrighted materials in some cases? 

-When someone (A) reuses a translation (by a Tatoeba user B) of a sentence originally written by a Tatoeba user C, should A write the names of B and C (or just B) on his/her page, or is it enough to put a link to a Tatoeba page where B's name is written (should C's name also displayed on the page for B's translation)?

-When someone (A) reuses a sentence on Tatoeba which is taken from another work (by B) under the CC BY license, should A write B's name on his/her page, or is it enough to put a link to a Tatoeba page where B's name is written?

-When someone reuses audio on Tatoeba, how should s/he attribute the original author and the translator(s) of the sentences?

-There are lots of sentences in Tatoeba that actually violate copyright. Some of them were added by Tatoeba users. Some of them come from the Tanaka Corpus. Who is to blame for them? Shouldn't we state in the terms of use something like "all of the content that we host is provided by users like yourself, and we do not take an editorial role. This means that [...] we do not take any responsibility for this content" (http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use) to avoid troubles?

-Sentences that violate copyright remain on the website as logs even after being deleted and remain accessible by anyone. Shouldn't we remove them altogether?

[Trang HO]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to research and think on this topic. I won't have the time to share my thoughts/knowledge on the various questions you've asked but I can at least answer your main question.

Yes, it's possible to hire a specialist to re-write the terms of use. It's clear that at some point we will have to do it, provided the project keeps growing. Whether it is a necessity to find a specialist *right now*, perhaps not. I think we are still far from being popular enough that we will get shut down by big publishing companies. But it's still a good thing to plan ahead and secure the legal part of the project. 

I personally have no experience at all with lawyers and such. I have no idea how much it would cost to hire someone to write our terms of use. I have no idea where I would find such a person either...