I have a website that offers reviews on insurance companies. I got a message that I cannot do this as the reviews acts as a recommendation (like advice) to the purchase of insurance. In my country you need a license to give finanical advice. So I was wondering if my reviews are considered giving advice, or should I put a disclaimer on my site stating that I am not a qualified financial advicer? PM me if you want to kow the URL. This accusation took place when one of the companies I reviewed about didn't like what I wrote about them. They accused me for breach of copyright for having their logo and then saying I have no authoirty to give advice/recommendation.
Right well when it comes down to Copyright they will ask you to remove the content and thats is that resolved. As for advice, In my opinion it is not advice its sharing your opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Both are similar but there is a definitively difference. I recommend comparing them both and see if what you are doing boarder in to each. Then you will have your answers.
take down the content they're complaining about. as for advice - put up a disclaimer saying that it's opinion only and not advice. if that company still makes problems, just stop promoting them.
When doing this, never use phrases such as "this is what you should buy if X happens to you". Let the reader figure that part out by him/herself. Like esecuredata said, advicing and reviewing are sort of holding hands here, so be careful.
Try adding a paragraph at the end of each review that you're not offering advice or recommendations, and that the review represents your opinion, etc. You can find paragraphs like this in a variety of places online. If you feel you need to say something negative about a company, ensure that what you say is based on verifiable facts. Also consider re-writing the negative parts of your review in a different way so that it does not seem as negative. For example, a company charging more and delivering less could be seen as a negative, yet you could rewrite that along the line of the company following market trends that often result in higher prices for fewer services, or the company now charges a higher price for a more focused service that provides a few really good benefits as opposed to a lot of average benefits.
For me, writing a review is not intended to give an advice. Reviews are for writing and sharing FACTS to the readers. It's really good that westwebs referred to this as "verifiable facts". He has explained it well (big thanks to him). Thus basically, your intention should be more on giving facts and then your opinion about the company or whatsoever. Furthermore, putting a disclaimer on your front page would also be a great idea just like what others have mentioned. You always try to be honest in all aspects, because if your intentions are really pure then, I think you have a good enough reason not to be worried about. And by the way, when you use logos of other companies, I believe you have to ask permission from the, because that's their property.
Whenever posting 'reviews' the site should always have a disclaimer on the real stuff and should include that it is your personal opinion. Also in the fine print do make a note that you are compensated for any sales that come out of this. Regarding copyrights.. as long as you dont copy text and so on, you should be fine.
I think that giving a review is just expressing a view of what you think of something. I wouldn't call that giving advice, but then you never know what it is with the policies of some companies.
1) If the site says "this is my opinion", not "I suggest that", it's not advice. If it were, half the internet sites would have to shut down. 2) You can't use someone's logo without their permission, unless it falls under some law that permits the specific use. I doubt that your use is legal under any law.