Linking Legalities
By Bret A. Fausett
A few years ago, in the early days of the Web, a friend emailed, asking me to draft something she called a "linking agreement." I confessed that I'd never heard of such a thing. What was it, I asked? She explained that her company was about to start linking to other sites and allowing other sites to link to its site, and the company needed a contract drafted to make this kind of cross-linking possible. We just want the ability to link to other sites from time to time, she explained, and we need permission to do that.
"Permission." As soon as she mentioned that, I assumed that my friend's company, a stalwart Fortune 500, needed a basic introduction to the Web. Back then, it was very probable that a company such as hers just didn't get it yet. So I explained that the World Wide Web exists as a network of links, page to page and site to site, giving the user a seamless experience between one person's content and another's. The Web is such an effective communications device, I explained, because it's built without permission.
In fact, I preached, had developers been forced to obtain permission before linking, the Web would never have grown into the incredible tool that it is. It's successful because it's not built by lawyers, but by people trying to add value by pointing users toward interesting things. So, the sermon concluded, you don't need a linking agreement. That's not the way the Web works.
Please draft it anyway, she asked, we're very cautious.
License to Link
For years, the conventional legal wisdom on linking has been pretty much what I told to my friend years ago: Absent special circumstances, individuals and companies are free to link to whomever they want, to whatever page they want, with or without permission.<>
