Linking, Framing, and Inlining
Every website developer should know when using deep links, frames, and others' graphics is allowed, and when it can lead to trouble.
Using deep links, frames, and others' graphics on your website can sometimes cause problems, either because it's illegal or because it simply displeases other website owners. Here's a discussion of what to avoid and when to get permission.
Linking
Linking is so fundamental to the Internet that many users feel that any legal restriction on their use of links is a violation of the right to travel and speak freely in cyberspace. But many businesses are far less enthusiastic about some aspects of linking. Here, we briefly discuss some of the legal principles that may limit the right to link.
Deep linking. Deep linking allows visitors to bypass information and advertisements at the home page and go directly to an internal page. There is no law or court ruling prohibiting deep linking. However, businesses dislike deep links because:
-
linked-to sites can lose income since their revenues are often tied to the number of viewers who pass through their home page, and
-
it may mistakenly create the impression in a user's mind that the two linked sites endorse each other.
Trademark infringement. A trademark is any name or graphic image that identifies and distinguishes products or services -- for example, a word such as "Yahoo!" or a graphic image such as the "Ask Jeeves" butler. Trademark infringement occurs when a second user's use of the trademark is likely to confuse consumers as to the origin of products or services.
The use of a graphic trademark -- for example, the Playboy bunny logo -- to link to the trademark owner's site could be trademark infringement if the consumer is likely to be confused into believing that the linked site (the site that owns the graphical trademark) is associated with or endorses the site doing the linking.
Copyright infringement. It is not a violation of copyright law to create a hyperlink but it is a violation of the law to create a link that contributes to unauthorized copying of a copyrighted work if the linking party knew or had reason to know of the unauthorized copying and encouraged it.
- EXAMPLE: A website posted infringing copies of a church's copyrighted handbook at its site. The website was ordered to remove the handbook but subsequently provided links to other sites that contained infringing copies of the handbook. These links were different from traditional hyperlinks, because the website knew and encouraged the use of the links to obtain unauthorized copies. The linking activity constituted contributory copyright infringement. Intellectual Reserve, Inc. v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Inc, 75 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (D. Utah 1999)
|
|
