copyright issues for web site idea

smk77

I've had an idea for a website that promotes companies. Without going into details lets say, as an example, it promotes hotels.

Lets say I want to list 1,000 hotels on my site. Each hotel has a page with images and text description.

Would I need to contact all the hotels directly to ask permission to use text from their website and images or would they turn a blind eye because I'd be promoting them?

The reason I ask is that when I go to laterooms.com and search for a hotel, for example, The May Fair hotel in London the description that is returned is:

The luxurious May Fair Hotel is located in sophisticated Mayfair, resurgent again as London's true luxury quarter.

If I google that text it appears word for word on lots of other sites. So, are these other site (or indeed lateroom) just copying text from the same source (i.e. the hotels site) and the hotels aren't bothered because it's promotion?

I suppose the question is how do they all get the same images and descriptions and are they doing so legally?

steve1980

You need permission from the owner of the business you are trying to recommend.

If you just copy the information from another source without permission then you'll be in trouble.

Surely you would need to speak to the business concerned to work out a commission structure?

smk77

steve1980 wrote: »

You need permission from the owner of the business you are trying to recommend.

If you just copy the information from another source without permission then you'll be in trouble.

Surely you would need to speak to the business concerned to work out a commission structure?

Yes, you are right, I would need to speak to them to make any money. The problem is a catch 22 situation. Without content (descriptions / images) then google would have little to index. Without a high ranking I won't have visitors. Without visitors I'll struggle to generate interest in the advertising structure I have.

I have thought about scraping the customers site and then emailing them telling them about my site and displaying the content that I'd like to use. They can then either give or reject permission.

Terry_Bam

If for example to were looking at hotels and required info from Laterooms then you could apply to join the Laterooms affiliate programme. If you are accepted onto such a programme you can use their live feeds for providing the content that you require.

smk77

Terry_Bam wrote: »

If for example to were looking at hotels and required info from Laterooms then you could apply to join the Laterooms affiliate programme. If you are accepted onto such a programme you can use their live feeds for providing the content that you require.

unfortunately there are no affiliate programs for the idea (perhaps that's fortunate!).

InsideInsurance

Whilst you can take a risk based approach and take it because they are unlikely to complain the risk you are also running is that they themselves dont own the copyright.

It could be they've had a pro photographer take the pictures and only licensed them for use on their site. Whilst the hotel may not mind you stealing them the photographer would because they arent getting anything out of it.

You may find that some have PR/ Media sections which do contain images/ copy that is licensed for reuse for the purposes of editorial/ inbound adverts etc.

paddyrg

smk77 wrote: »

unfortunately there are no affiliate programs for the idea (perhaps that's fortunate!).

Ultimately I guess you'll want a slice of any business you put through the site (maybe it is for wedding functions, or whatever), so you'll need to either manage a whole heap of relationships, or see if you can adapt an existing aggregator.

I have a tech architect background if you want to chat it over - just send me your NDA.

smk77

paddyrg wrote: »

Ultimately I guess you'll want a slice of any business you put through the site (maybe it is for wedding functions, or whatever), so you'll need to either manage a whole heap of relationships, or see if you can adapt an existing aggregator.

I have a tech architect background if you want to chat it over - just send me your NDA.

It's more advertising than a slice of revenue that I generate for them. But you are right, lots of relationships to be established for content before anything else. Initially it would be nothing more than a directory but then I'd add options at a cost.

Thanks for the offer but I've worked in software development for 12 years so should be fine on the technical side.

paulwf

smk77 wrote: »

Yes, you are right, I would need to speak to them to make any money. The problem is a catch 22 situation. Without content (descriptions / images) then google would have little to index. Without a high ranking I won't have visitors. Without visitors I'll struggle to generate interest in the advertising structure I have.

I think the most likely way around this is to invest a decent amount of time and money in the site before you launch it. Like a lot of businesses you'll have to put in a lot of effort and run at a loss for a while before it pays off.

Tech startups are used to burning through cash in hope of a big return later on. I personally don't like this approach but it may be that what you propose can't be done on a very small scale. It may have to be a fairly large project because as you say a small site won't attract enough visitors.

smk77

through some of the tips posted I've managed to get hold of enough legit info to populate the description with content that, although not exactly what I want, has meaning and therefore should assists rankings.

Thanks for the advice.

paddyrg

smk77 wrote: »

It's more advertising than a slice of revenue that I generate for them. But you are right, lots of relationships to be established for content before anything else. Initially it would be nothing more than a directory but then I'd add options at a cost.

Thanks for the offer but I've worked in software development for 12 years so should be fine on the technical side.

No worries on the offer - I left the industry some years back so am useless at the 'coding edge', but in terms of technical architecture and information modeling, I'm still one of the best ;-)

Advertising - hmmm, advertising suggests they pay a fee to be advertised - and that suggests an upfront spend in an industry that works on back-end deals, may be better to look into the aggregator affiliate side. I know, for instance, that hotels.com are the partner (and so provide commission to) WorldMate - perhaps there is something of that model that can be of use?

Hope it goes well!