[Sigia-l] Site Critique Permissions

[Jay Linden]

molly wright steenson wrote:
> 
> Why would this be much different than reviewing a record album, movie or
> book? Even if they get bad reviews, to my knowledge, it is not necessary to
> ask permission first. If quotes are used from a book or song lyrics, that
> doesn't fall under infringement.

That is exactly correct.

The usage of images, descriptions and quotes for the purposes of
critique has very clearly and explicitly been permitted under "fair use"
guidelines.  It doesn't matter whether or not you're being paid for the
critique and it doesn't matter whether the critique is favourable and it
doesn't matter whether the sites you critique are commercial or not.

There are implicit limitations of how much of a site you can use under
"fair use" guidelines, but they are guided by the degree to which it is
obvious that your only usage is for critique. (Much like reviewing a
movie or a CD, it must be obvious that you are not giving your audience
a free show under guise of a critique.)

It does matter that the pages you show and describe are publicly
available (that is, that you do not hack someone's intranet to get
them), and that completely separate from your fair use usage, you do not
break any other regulations, such as slander or misrepresentation.

Having said all of the above, I am not a lawyer, and I'd strongly
recommend getting legal advice from someone who is one before doing
anything that might fall into a grey area.


-- 
Jay Linden                                               Toronto, Canada
e-business Advisor, IBM Global Services                 jeigh at rogers.com
These onions are MINE and not those of my EMPLOYER.
Wait, that should be OPINIONS. I have no idea whose onions these are.