Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Deep linking and financial institutions
Author: Wayne Steele Posted: 8/12/1999; 8:31:22 PM Topic: LaSalle's policy re deep linking Msg #: 9448 (In response to 9429) Prev/Next: 9447 / 9449
I especially liked how all linking to LaSalle's site is forbidden. This means Dave is taking a big chance just by linking to their disclaimer page. They have also tried to make this into a shrink-wrap 'contract', not just a statement of copyrights: claiming you consent to these terms by accessing their web site.These issues are symptomatic of a more general problem with intellectual property: Legally, there is no down side to claiming the world, even if you know your claim has no base at all. It seems to me that if I claim rights that I know to be bogus (or I should have known to be bogus), I should somehow liable for some kind of fraud.
What would happen if I start telling people they need to pay me a toll to enter city hall? OK, what if I just charge people entering city hall "for commercial purposes"? They'd think about what to charge me with while I sat in jail for a while, that's what. This is no different than a software (or web page) license telling me I can't reverse-engineer their code, or resell the product (BTW - Nintendo claims you're not allowed to rent their games either).
This is why shrink-wrap licenses and such are always so restrictive. Why not? The worst thing that could happen is some court might rule a clause to be invalid.
I think there should be _SOME_ kind of legal exposure to this kind of contract-puffing.
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:51:52 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.