RE: UKNM: Linking to sites

[John Enser]

Chris,


free advice is dangerous, 'cos you get what you pay for...


but on the basis that this is not advice and you are not my client and all

those other disclaimers:


1.  Stuff about Shetland Times that Mary posted is spot on - the case was

settled and does not take things much further; there are no other UK cases

(although one in Holland just went in favour of the company which provided

the deep links)


2.  The trademark point is borderline-to-wrong; if I want to list coca-cola

and their address in a directory, I do not infringe  their mark by doing so

(although the logo is not so black and white).  So, if I am legally linking

and so showing you where their site is, that is probably OK too.


3.  The trouble with deep linking and framing is really about "passing off"

- suggesting that you have a kind of relationship with the other site that

you do not actually have, a bit like a misleading endorsement.


4.  My practical advice is that there is no harm in asking - people rarely

say no.  If you do not want to ask because you think that the way in which

you are using their site (by deep linking or whatever) is likely to lead

them to say no, you are probably deep enough in the grey area to mean you

ought to take paid-for advice, so you can sue your lawyer for getting it

wrong ;-)


John

jxeolswang [dot] com

www.olswang.com



-----Original Message-----

From: Chris Lascelles [

lascellesclara [dot] co [dot] uk (mailto:lascellesclara [dot] co [dot] uk)

]

Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 8:25 PM

To:

uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

Subject: FW: UKNM: Linking to sites




Thanks Paul, but as Michael pointed out, there still seems to be some

confusion over this issue.  I understand that deep linking or framinhg

requires prior agreement but still not 100% sure about a simple link. If

there are any lawyers on this list, how about a bit of free advice? (does

that exist in the legal profession? - any good lawyer jokes anybody?)


Chris Lascelles

lascellesclara [dot] co [dot] uk

-----Original Message-----

From: Zing!n Media [

mailzingin [dot] com (mailto:mailzingin [dot] com)

]

Sent: 14 October 2000 00:03

To:

uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

Subject: Re: UKNM: Linking to sites


I`m no expert but as far as I know, you are free to link to any web site

without permission but deep-linking (linking to pages other than the home

page) has certainly been frowned upon in American law

(http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/kubiszyn-2000-05b-p1.html).


>From a practical point of view, providing links to web pages should present

any legal problems provided you're not saying anything defamatory about the

site in question and that you don`t try and pass of their content as your

own. It's always a good idea to tell them that you're linking to them as

well.


Paul

_____________


If you are *pointing* to a site, that is loading the page into your

visitor's browser then you can certainly do that - it's like offering

someone a lift

to the shop.  However, if you load their page into a new window or otherwise

load a page so that it may appear to be 'your' content, then you're in

trouble.

I believe that there was a battle between 2 Scottish newspapers last year

over the fact that one was allegedly just providing headlines and pointing

to the content of the other's site - however, it was alleged that they

loaded

it in such a way that it was difficult to tell it was another site.


Michael Trott


Michael Trott

Operations Director

Speechradio.com Ltd. - The Internet's Leading Audio Content Provider

Visit Internet Radio at www.studentradio.co.uk, www.arenaradio.co.uk,

www.radiohtml.com

Free radio for your website from http://www.speechradio.com


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