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Q: Commercial vs Personal Use of Websites ( Answered,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Commercial vs Personal Use of Websites
Category: Relationships and Society > Law
Asked by: vgidwani-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 21 Apr 2006 17:08 PDT
Expires: 21 May 2006 17:08 PDT
Question ID: 721542
Is my use of internet stuff considered commercial use? 
> Ok Lets say there is a Website that teaches Math for free
It says that this website may be used for Personal Use Only NOT for Commercial Use
- I own a small business and I learn how to do math from this website
so I can run my business - Is this considered commercial use of that
Math Help Website?

Next:
Google.com on it's Terms of Service say it is for Personal Use only
and that I may not use their website for commercial use...
So If I do a google search to help me find new products for my
business, or if I do searches on Google.com that are part of running
my business (e.g. getting driving directions, looking for stuff,
dictionary for writing business letters, etc)  - Is that considered a
Commercial use of Google.com? - Does that mean I cannot use Google.com
to search for stuff for my business (Such as Business running tips,
New products, Driving Directions, Dictionary, etc...)

Finally,
I am a student at a University. I DO NOT attend a University because I
want to know more for my own good... I attend because I want to Make
more money (Monetary Gain)...

Commercial use literal definition is to use for Monetary Gain, correct? 

So If I used Google.com for school related work - Would that be
commercial use of Google.com - Can I use Google.com for school related
work then?


What does a website mean when it says For personal use only, Not for commercial use?
Answer  
Subject: Re: Commercial vs Personal Use of Websites
Answered By: tutuzdad-ga on 26 Apr 2006 07:42 PDT
 
Dear vgidwani-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question.
Generally speaking, the term ?commercial use? refers to the copyright
protection. The actually implementation and incorporation of
copyrighted materials into one?s commercial enterprise is forbidden by
these common disclaimers. So, for example, if you made some entity?s
website available to the public and made a profit from the use of
someone else?s protected material, you would be in violation of the
terms. On the other hand, if you are a commercial pilot and frequently
accessed an online weather site to help you to determine if a specific
date was safe to fly fee-paying passengers, this would not be
considered a violation of the terms. After all, that?s what the
information was posted for.

Along this same line, mathematical theories are a matter of science in
the public domain. If you are using a particular site to enhance your
understanding of mathematical theories and applied what you learned in
your business and other aspects of your personal or professional life,
these are not considered violations of the terms. It is only when you
incorporate that particular author?s website, tools, verbatim
statements, images or other protected materials that can cause you
legal problems.

Contrary to popular belief, Google Answers researchers are not Google
?employees?, but it is clear for anyone to see that Google is
primarily interested in making sure that users do not exploit the
Google OWNED material and services for profit. Having said that,
Google has posted this statement that clearly explains what one can
and cannot do with their services:

?The Google Services are made available for your personal,
non-commercial use only. You may not use the Google Services to sell a
product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for
commercial reasons, such as advertising sales. You may not take the
results from a Google search and reformat and display them, or mirror
the Google home page or results pages on your Web site. You may not
"meta-search" Google. If you want to make commercial use of the Google
Services, you must enter into an agreement with Google to do so in
advance. Please contact us for more information.?
GOOGLE TERMS OF SERVICE
://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html

Rest assured that in most cases Google and other search engine WANT
users (commercial and no-commercial alike) to utilize their services
to the best of their ability and that these and similar restrictions
in no way encourages users to refrain from accessing the sites for
fear of legal retaliation. It is only when ?proprietary? information,
data, tools, images and services for which Google and others have sole
ownership is misused that problems arise. By merely ?using? Google and
other search engines as gateways to information that may help you
enhance your personal and professional knowledge, you are not in
violation of the terms of commercial use policies.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

GOOGLE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PERMISSIONS
://www.google.com/permissions/index.html
://www.google.com/permissions/guidelines.html
://www.google.com/permissions/request.html
://www.google.com/permissions/brand_terms.html
://www.google.com/permissions/promotion.html
Contact: ://www.google.com/contact/


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

GOOGLE

PERMISSIONS

TERMS OF SERVICE

COPYRIGHT

COMMERCIAL USE
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