Checking the site, my first two impressions were:
(1) No copyright violations seems apparent, since they are not infringing the exclusive right of reproduction or display (and in this sense, it is akin to the cases where it was held not to be infringement to cut our a copyrighted image and "frame" it on a new medium).
(2) I does look like a "passing off" trademark case. It certainly does not seem apparent to the user that the framed sites are not About.com pages. Had I not known already that it was framed, I would have thought it all belonged to About.com.
Gay said:
>> ...it is basically like photocopying a book I wrote, slapping their
>> cover on it, and then putting a surcharge on it...
I say that it is more like taking a lawful copy of your book, tucking it inside a bogus cover, and selling it as your own. No copyright violation, but reeks of trademark violation.
John
On 10/26/05 6:43 PM, "Freya Anderson" <freya_anderson[_at_]eed.state.ak.us> wrote:
> About.com does frame everything at the top. I don't go there when other
> options are as good, because the advertising is so annoying. That said,
> they aren't doing full framing (all around the page), just top framing. The
> frames have links allowing them to be turned off, at which point they
> disappear and the formerly framed site's URL appears in the address box.
> Even when the site is framed, the frame doesn't appear to block any of the
> framed site's content, so I don't find it confusing who owns the content,
> and any ads on the framed site should still show up. About.com does do work
> to find content and organize it in addition to adding content of their own,
> so, legal aspects aside, it does seem fair for them to receive some profit
> for their work. There are some great library sites out there that do a
> better job for free with no pesky ads (see http://lii.org for one great
> example.)
>
> IANAL, but it seems like they are making a real effort to avoid the faults
> of early framing complaints. While copyright is complex enough and my
> understanding of courts' decisions is poor enough that I wouldn't want to
> bet that what about.com is doing is legal, it doesn't seem illegal to me,
> just really annoying.
>
> Freya
>
>> >> I swear I remember there was a copyright case a while ago regarding >> one site putting the content of another inside a frame on its own >> site. Does anyone recall anything like this? >> >> It seems to me that type of thing is copyright infringement and >> About.com is doing this egregiously. Here's an example of my >> complaint, go to this page: >> >> http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/recipes/f/babyfood.htm >> >> then click on any of the links to other sites' baby food recipes in >> middle of the story. You will see their frame and ad at the top of >> the other site. >> >> - it is not fair use, they are framing the FULL content of the other >> site >> - it is clearly commercial; the only thing the About.com >> frame has in >> it is an ad, that refreshes every few seconds (!) so they >> continuously derive revenue from the other site's content >> - the URL in the address bar is still About.com, not the other >> site's, so there is clear consumer confusion as well, which suggests >> there might be trademark problems too... >> - my site is linked to, and they never asked my permission ;-) >> >> ...it is basically like photocopying a book I wrote, slapping their >> cover on it, and then putting a surcharge on it... >> >> BTW, The New York Times recently purchased About.com for $410 >> million >> (10x2004 revenues), so this is not small change. Although they do >> not break out how much revenue is derived from "the frame" v. the >> rest of their site, it is likely significant -- the gist of >> About.com >> is that they have experts on every topic who cull the web for >> information on their topic, in other words they build topical link >> farms. >> >> Long time lurker, first time poster, appreciate hearing your thoughts. >> >> Gay Gilmore >> Recipezaar: Where the Recipes Are >> http://www.recipezaar.com >> >> p.s. here is a funny example for this mailing list: >> >> http://inventors.about.com/od/copyrights101basicsfaq/f/search_
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