As I can see "We copy/pasted & find/replaced from another site or app" is the most popular answer. So my question is: Is it legal to copy/paste TOS & PP from other sites if these documents aren't CC Sharelike license type?
Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#32wordpress.com's TOS is "available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license, which means you’re more than welcome to steal it and repurpose it for your own use" . http://en.wordpress.com/tos/
Using WordPress.com's TOS is a really bad idea (in my view) if sections 11 and 12 are left in their present form. Those sections could get you into the same type of legal trouble as Blockbuster's TOS got them into in 2009, in the Harris v. Blockbuster case. See http://www.ontechnologylaw.com/using-wordpress-coms-terms-of... for a discussion. I've mentioned this here before, so I hate to sound like a broken record, bu…
They do have a term "If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect."
This probably won't be good enough, though, as the "We can do anything we like" term can't be made good.
Perhaps you could add a term "If any part of this Agreement renders the remainder of the Agreement invalid or unenforceable, that part will be considered void, and the remainder of the Agreement valid and enforceable."
But that doesn't explain how you would resolve a part which only conflicts with a few other parts. You could include something about "if any part invalidates or renders unenforceable another part which is written previously on this Agreement, the part which is written later in this Agreement will be considered null and void." That might be dangerous though - a single bad term at the top could nuke the rest of the agreement.
But ... I'm not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. It's not that expensive to get a lawyer to review (and edit) a contract (OK, it's probably as much as a couple of dedicated servers, which might be a lot for a weekend project... but if you have more than one person in the company it's not expensive), and you get the bonus of a contract that actually does what you want it to, not what Wordpress wants. Wordpress probably has different priorities than you.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#33I paid a local law firm for a TOS once. It was not cheap, and after I received it, I had to manually edit out the remnants of an unfinished search/replace of another company's name. One more anecdote: When my service went live, I put a free t-shirt offer deep in the TOS. Only had 1 person ever try to redeem the offer.
What is your site url.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#34I'd find such a service very interesting, particularly if you could produce minimally-offensive common-sense terms that still serve the appropriate function of avoiding liability.
That would be a great service. Bonus points for it being relevant beyond the United States.
there is one I know of[1] though I'm not sure they got out of the beta.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cool, thanks!!
Remember that the lawyer in question is not your lawyer. You probably shouldn't take the above (or, in fact, the below - nothing I say is legal advice, nothing in this thread is legal advice) as legal advice. I am definitely not a lawyer, but that lawyer's response sounds reasonable, but it sounds like it was also likely under a range of conditions -- in particular, I think if you ever get in a position where you hav…
Oh, I understand. I'm not duplicating large swaths of text wholesale. Most of it I'm writing fresh -- so given the above, it really sounds like I don't have to worry about borrowing a few phrases here and there.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#36For one of my projects, we took the TOS from a firm that was in the same industry with a similar product and heavily modified it to our needs... removed a lot that didn't apply to our situation and added a few things in the appropriate places. We judged appropriateness based on how the document was initially arranged.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#37You might want to check out the COPPA Safe Harbor Program at http://business.ftc.gov/privacy-and-security/children%E2%80%... (the list of approved safe harbors) and http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm
This is one reason why many TOS and Privacy Policies appear very similar. Any site that collects information from children (which could be almost any site) must comply with the following:
"Section 312.4(b) of the Rule identifies the information that must be disclosed in your online privacy policy. Required information includes: the name, address, telephone number, and email address of each operator collecting or maintaining personal information from children through your site; the types of personal information collected from children and whether it is collected actively or passively; how such personal information is or may be used; whether such personal information is disclosed to third parties, various other types of information about those third parties as set forth in the Rule, and that the parent may deny consent to this disclosure; that the operator cannot condition a child’s participation in an activity on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary to participate; and that the parent can review the child’s personal information and refuse to permit the further collection or use of the child’s information. 16 C.F.R. § 312.4(b)(2).
"The Rule also requires that a link to the privacy policy be posted clearly and prominently on your home page and at each area where personal information is collected. 16 C.F.R. § 312.4(b)."
For example, TRUSTe is a COPPA safe harbor, and if you use their Privacy Policy Generator (available at http://www.truste.com/privacy_seals_and_services/small_mediu... ) to generate a policy, you're automatically deemed in compliance with the COPPA.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#38I wrote it myself: http://classfrog.blogspot.com/2011/07/terms-and-conditions.h...
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#39Great to see this discussion - I think that most contracts in many areas of law could be standardised. The same way that open source and creative commons licenses standardise those areas. A few of us are working on starting a non-profit to do that - taking the first small step of making an open UK employment contract. Anyone with a business in the UK who might be interested in using such a contract, do get in touch!…
> Great to see this discussion - I think that most contracts in many areas of law could be standardised. The same way that open source and creative commons licenses standardise those areas.
In principle, this is a great idea. In practice, not so much. The problem with boilerplate contracts is that they're often unenforceable. In fact, simply having an IM conversation with someone in which you discuss and negotiate the responsibilities of each side could carry more weight in litigation than some obtuse, boilerplate contract.
I've actually been working on an NDA generator for a while now, and I'm hoping to eventually get it to a point where the variable elements can be negotiable by each side of the agreement. For example, things like duration/scope, when allowed by the respective jurisdiction, should be negotiable. Launching this into a full service (or a component of another service) that handles confidential information exchanges could be useful, too.
Re: Poll: Where did you get your site/app's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would be a great service. Bonus points for it being relevant beyond the United States.
there is one I know of[1] though I'm not sure they got out of the beta. [1] http://www.iubenda.com/
Thank you for the mention, I'm the founder of iubenda. Any question is welcomed :)