Legal Question in Technology Law in Texas

Re: Linking to Websites in portfolio

You are probably bound by copyright law and by the agreement to honor the wishes of the corporation. However, a polite letter to the president of the company asking for special dispensation may be the most helpful thing you could do.

Under copyright law, a work is a "work for hire" if it is done in the course of an employment relationship. Thus your agency retained the copyright in the work you did, and probably conveyed that copyright to the corporation at the time they provided the work. Thus the corporation probably has the right to stop you from claiming a right of attribution (saying you did the work) by its agreement with your former employer.

While this is bad, its not tragic. Although you should probably take down the link on your online portfolio, nothing would stop you from telling others that you had been part of the team that designed the website, and you could tell anyone who interviewed you to look at that website with the disclaimer that, while you don't own the copyright to the work, it is an example of the work you've done.

Frankly, the world of online linking to websites is a bit of a sticky mess at this time. I am not sure that there is anything that prevents a website from linking to another website so long as there is no intent to defraud or mislead people.

That said, big corporations tend to have nasty lawyers (and lots of them) and they can make your life miserable. So why take the chance?

Hope this is helpful.

Re: Linking to Websites in portfolio

Although I disagree with some of the particulars of Mr. DeWitt's analysis, I share his bottom line advice: the Corporation can definitely make it very expensive for you even if you ultimately "win" the right in court -- expect a bare minimum of $50k in legal fees that you cannot expect to recoup.

Linking is actually a trademark issue rather than a copyright issue -- doesn't matter at all who owns the copyright to the Web site, the issue is whether your link suggests sponsorship or affiliation with the Corporation. If the Corporation commences an action alleging unfair use of its trademark, you can be in for a prolonged and expensive battle.

If the Corporation will not relax its policy, you can still truthfully assert in your Web site that you worked on the development of the Corporation's site, but refrain from providing the hot link to it.

Best wishes,

LDWG