I recently set up a business community website with links to various business clubs in my locality. I displayed the club names, thier logo and website address. My intentions were to try and help the clubs out and also local business people. I got a phone call from a guy(unamed), he wasnt happy saying that this is illegal to do. I took all the links and logos off the site. Is it illegal to link to someones website without permission? how about the logos is displaying them illegal?
Linking to someone's site is not illegal. This guy's an idiot. You can mention his name, his business name, and even his legal threats on your website, and so long as you are completely truthful, it will not be slander or libel (see http://www.google.com/search?source...rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-31,GGLD:en&q=define:+libel) The logo is a grey area though. He would have a case because you are using his logo. I highly doubt he would win a case against you, but just the fact that he could take you to court and make you spend money is probably enough of a discourgement to not place his logo on the site. If you have clearly marked the logo as his (for example, by hyperlinking it to his site) and not done something like placing a caption on the picture stating "My other website", he'd undoubtedly lose, but you'd still have the hassle of court and lawyer's fees. My advice is to link to the sites you want to link to, and call them to ask permission to use their logo in the free ad you are giving them. I scored several free meals, some beer, and a 6 month tanning package on a site that I set up as a free resource for local businesses this way. I also landed several clients for the web design business I decided to start after being asked to do web work by some of the businesses I was listing. Oh, I just noticed you're in England. My advice is valid in the US, but your mileage may vary. The very nature of the web still means that linking to his site is probably not illegal (and even if it were illegal, it would be unenforcable).
You can link to whoever you want. People are sometimes a bit kinky with their logos, and though you have the right to use it in critical purposes I think, I always avoid logos, since it saves a lot of trouble (see, you posted here - you lost time...).
I think I will avoid using the logo in the future, but it does benefit users of the website in helping to identify who the link is (some people remember pictures better than words or names). I was at a business awards presentation last night and managed to talk to a IT solicitor, she said it was advisable to get permission before linking to a site. I wonder what all of these review websites do when asked to take a link off. I don’t think they will bother to get permission to put a link on. The internet is built on links.
"she said it was advisable to get permission before linking to a site" That's just absurd. Like you say, he internet is built on links. The link exists on your site, and is under your creative control. So long as you don't use a trademarked or copyrighted phrase or image, the business would have no leg to stand on. Google "liar". Tony Blair's bio is the first result. It got their by a large number of backlinks to his bio that use the word "liar" in the anchor text. If linking were even remotely illegal, don't you think he or his political supporters would go after the sites raking the muck? Bush shows up for some unkind search terms too, and I have no doubt he'd invade what ever country/state/city that was besmirching him.
This is totally absurd. If it was me I would put the logo and the link back up and email them with details. We had an incident recently about a site we were listing in a directory. The site owner rang up to complain that we were listed second after the real site in a google search for their company name. He demanded we sort it out and we refused. Its not our fault google listed us second (except for all the seo work we do..... ). The other day I got an invoice for £200 for a link on a site I never heard of. When I contacted the site it turned out they had added us to their links page and assumed we would pay £200 for the priviledge! In summary you can link to any site you want but using a logo without permission can be risky. Nobody can take action against you if you remove the logo when asked though.
What a bunch of conmen, you should stick a link on your site and invoice them for £400. "she said it was advisable to get permission before linking to a site" Yeah that’s what she said and she specialised in IT law. I was quite astonished that this was the case. I think that in any court action the judge will probably overrule any links that aren't slander or defamation.
That is crazy talk! If those people don't want links to their site - they are fools. Also, does she think that Google asks everyone before they provide links to sites?