I'm planning to review several websites, and create an electronic
report of the results.
* Only information/comments on top 3 websites in each category would be listed
in my report
* I'm not writing anything negative about any site, only identifying top
scorers in each category,
* I will list all reviewed websites in an appendix
* PDF report will be available for purchase via website download.
A few questions:
1. What am I "REQUIRED BY LAW" to do, if anything, before I include
for-profit company names/URL's/review results info in my report.
I'm assuming permission is not required, but if so what is required?
(e.g., do I need to obtain written permission, will an email OK
granting permission include an organizations site my report do?)
2. What am I "REQUIRED BY LAW" to do, if anything, before I include
non-profit organization names/URL's/review results in my report.
I'm assuming permission is not required, but if so what is required?
(e.g., do I need to obtain written permission, will an email OK
granting permission include an organizations site my report do?)
3. Is anyone aware of a URL that covers this law topic?
____________________
NOTE: I plan to let reviewed organization's know they will be included
in the report. However, I want to know if I'm required by law to
obtain permission before including organizations website review info in my report. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
25 Oct 2006 06:40 PDT
webquestions-ga,
You're touching on areas of law which are unsettled, and not conducive
to a definitive answer, or a concrete list of do's and don't's.
In a nutshell, though, very few organizations would bother suing or
filing a complaint for a positive review, especially one that does not
excerpt lots of verbatim material from a site. To make a lawsuit
worthwhile, they generally would have to demonstrate damages, and it's
hard to claim they've been damaged by a good review.
On the other hand, unless you have explicit permission, there's always
a chance that someone will get cross-wise with what you've done, and
initiative some sort of action, perhaps leading to a lawsuit.
You greatly minimize the odds of this by (1) avoiding extended use of
their 'property' -- text, images, logos, etc (2) keeping things
positive (3) linking only to their main site, rather than deep-linking
to internal pages.
You can avoid the risk all together by seeking permission, but that
can often be a dead-end road, as many sites simply don't bother, or
don't even know how, to provide it.
Let me know what sort of additional information you would like to have
to make for a complete answer to your question.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
webquestions-ga
on
25 Oct 2006 15:49 PDT
The comment to "(1) avoiding extended use of their 'property' -- text,
images, logos, etc"
__
Do you see an issue with using a single thumbnail shot of a website as an issue.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
25 Oct 2006 16:19 PDT
In general, no, it shouldn't be a problem, as it is a fairly
widespread practice, and wouldn't ordinarily impinge on a site's
commercial value in any way.
But again, there are no guarantees...just steps you can take to
minimize the chances of ticking someone off to the point where they
take action.
Let me know what additional information you would like to make for a
complete answer to your question.
Cheers,
paf
|
Clarification of Question by
webquestions-ga
on
04 Nov 2006 04:37 PST
Sorry Paf,
I completely forgot that I asked for clarification.
___
Information provided was just what I needed.
___
No additional information is required----I consider my question answered.
___
|
