Hi All Just wondering what the legal responsibilities are of someone who is a blogger. I am considering starting up my own blog, but before I do, just want to be aware of what I am getting myself into and what I can or cannot do. A big part of my blog is going to be posting up emails that I have sent to various companies and retail outlets, outlining poor products or service that I experienced, but in a humerous way. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, as I just want to be aware of any legal ramifications that I could face.
You can be sued for anything especially bad reviews that put a company in a bad view. The best way to prevent from this is to be 100% honest. You can still write with humor, but make sure you make it clear what you are talking about. Make sure content is 100% yours to. That's one mistake I always see people getting into. The wise figure this out quickly as it's harder to compete when every ones content is the same. good luck
Posting your own letters are fine, any facts included in them you need to ensure are correct, any opinion you will need to ensure is clearly expressed as such. You may have more issues if you want to post their reply but in general I suspect most companies wouldn't pursue you for doing so (that doesnt make it legal, just something you get away with) Obviously you need to be careful on copyright and trademarks for any images etc you want to post in connection with blogs
No matter how much softly you express your experience with poor products of any company, they can still sue you for publicly defaming their brand name. Legal implications can be many. You are one single person, but for the company they deal with hundreds and thousands of customers like you, so one single customer's open public review on the web must not affect rest of the business - this is what how the company will put the issue forward. On your part you can try to fight for freedom of expression of your own experiences but when that affects a commercial name and lots of money gets somehow affected - you'll be in a problem. A company can easily afford court cases while it maybe financially crippling you. Decide whether all this is that much necessary for you to do? Is it worth doing it?
If you use someone elses content, you must give copyright notice to them and say it was their idea. ~ Slutz ~