Legal Question in Technology Law in Florida
Hi,
We have developed an online software that is used for the training and Supervision of interns for the school and practicum setting of counseling.
In this program we have attached a number of outside materials via hyperlinks.
The main question is:
Is it legal to link to another websites online content and materials (pdf, word, ppt) in a pop up window from our site?
Keep in mind that these materials are in no way on our server, however since the materials appear in a pop up window on our site it may appear that we have uploaded the material ourselves when infact we have not.
Please let me know!
1 Answer from Attorneys
As a general rule, linking to another site's content and making it appear as if the content is yours is a violation of the other site owner's copyright. It doesn't matter than the content doesn't reside on your server. You should have an attorney review your site as there may be some exceptions to the copyright law into which your site may fall, especially given that your site sounds like it may serve some educational purpose. But, from what you've briefly described, it sounds very much like you will be violating the intellectual property rights of others.