NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Bullied By A Big Company
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Bullied By A Big Company
Joe Bartling (joe.bartling_at_spiderware.com)
Mon, 24 Aug 1998 05:23:10 -0500 (CDT)
Peter Tanner wrote:
> My site recently started displaying
> ads for a competing product. The big corporation then email me,
> requesting I stop displaying the ads, or they will cut off relations
> with me. The big corporation's staff occasionally visits my site,
> contributes to the forum, and gives me an exclusive screenshot for a yet
> to be released product. What am I to do? Also, is there anything illegal
> about what the big corporation is doing?
Big companies are not called 800-pound gorillas for nothing. In reading
your message, I have a few thoughts:
1) Are they PAYING you to provide a service, in other words, do you have a
contractual relationship in which money is traded for service?
2) Have you violated any copyright or trademark of the software company? In
other words, have you copied or used their actual software to make money.
If you do not have a exclusive CONTRACT or AGREEMENT, you have every right
as an online publisher and author to house any ads you want. The company
you mentioned seems to be trying to govern your editorial rights, which you
own outright...
Our company, SpiderWare, http://www.spiderware.com, produces a number of
Virtual Communities for enthusiasts. Our sites add a dimension for
enthusiasts for which there is no alternative, real-time camaraderie with
other enthusiasts... We have to fend off staff attorneys from multi-billion
dollar firms routinely for our Constitutionally guaranteed rights to
communicate and collaborate about their billion dollar products. We
advertise products and services complimentary to our site focus and those
that will add quality, dimension (and traffic) to our sites. More likely
than not, they are competitive with each other. Whoever has more ad budget
wins ;-). Let the bidding begin!!!
Joe Bartling
joe.bartling_at_spiderware.com
703-293-7339
-*-._.-*-. .-*-._.-*-. .-*-._.-*-. .-*-._.-*-.-*-._.-*-. .-*-._.-*-.
SpiderWare builds Virtual Communities for enthusiasts, such as
http://www.orafans.com, http://www.beaniefans.com, http://www.ntfans.com,
http://www.dollfans.com, http://barbiefans.com, and many more...
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