I am thinking of building a personal website that collects all my favorite links (such as lawguru.com, bestbuy.com, nolo.com, and so on). Initially, this may be an intent for my own reference (just like bookmarks on the go).
Since the site is accessible to everyone on the net, should it be a concern of possible copyright infringment or defamation? note that there are some litigations about this issues in the past.
Regards
2007-01-20 13:32:06 · 5 answers · asked by help_please 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
No, there shouldn't be any copyright or defamation issues - you aren't using their logos (without permission or direction), and you're aren't talking about using any content from their sites either.
The litigious action you refer to is about websites linking to news articles - and including portions of text from the article (see news.google.com for examples: they post a link to the article with text). The other problem you might run into is website owners not wanting to be linked to from your page.
Be careful about getting legal advice from Yahoo! Answers, but I hope we were able to help even a little. For more information on copyright check out: http://www.copyright.gov.
Take a look at this article on linking: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3564466
And this one with court cases: http://www.linksandlaw.com/courtdecisions-usa.htm
(found these by doing a search with the terms: legality of website links)
2007-01-20 13:46:49 · answer #1 · answered by Galt_007 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a difficult area. There have been past arguments that you should not link to another website without express permission from that website; but I think for the most part it is now accepted practice that you can quote a website address on your own page, and that you are judgement proof.
You might run some risk though if you were to collect a set of links to illegal activities (for example, kiddie porn sites). I realize that's not what you are doing, but I'm pointing out there may be limits to what you can do in this area.
2007-01-20 15:25:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it is just links to these websites and uses no logos or trademarks of these companies, there is no violation of copyright. In fact, I think these companies might like another link to thier site to help people get to thier webpage.
2007-01-20 13:38:27 · answer #3 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Consult with a copyright lawyer if you need a professional answer, and I'm sure you do!
2007-01-20 13:37:58 · answer #4 · answered by briang731/ bvincent 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
JUST OFFER FREE ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE BOOKMARK. IN OTHER WORDS ASK THE COMPANIES THAT YOU INTEND TO FEATURE IF IT'S OK. TO POST A LINK TO THEIR SITE. YOU WILL FIND THAT ALLOT OF THEM WILL BE COOL WITH IT DUE TO THE FREE ADVERTISEMENT. YOU MIGHT EVEN BE ABLE TO START A PAY SERVICE IF YOU GET BIG ENOUGH.
2007-01-20 13:39:05 · answer #5 · answered by strike_eagle29 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋