NI.com's terms of use

[Ton Plomp]

I have just read the terms of use of NI.com (it's locate behind the legal section on the bottom of the ni.com homepage) and there is a section that NI gives the user the right to post a link to ni.com, unless the website disparages NI or any of it's products. (I had to look up disparage on google translate).

So what is the legal background of such a claim in the international realm that is called internet? (note that the url of the terms of use implicatly mentions that it's US only).

So any webpage that mocks LabVIEW or where a user mentions a bug inside LabVIEW is not allowed to link to ni.com.

Strange.

EDIT: the text is here.

Linking. NI gives you a nonexclusive, nontransferable permission, revocable by NI in its sole discretion at any time, to display the word mark "National Instruments", in font and color that is nondistinctive from the font and color used to represent other html links to third party web sites on your web site, only to represent an html link to the National Instruments web site home page (www.ni.com), subject to the following terms and conditions, each of which you agree to comply with:

No linking from any websites or pages that are obscene, pornographic, illegal, is permitted.

No linking from any websites that disparage NI or any of its products or services is permitted.

Ton

Edited February 3, 2011 by Ton Plomp

[jzoller]

I have just read the terms of use of NI.com (it's locate behind the legal section on the bottom of the ni.com homepage) and there is a section that NI gives the user the right to post a link to ni.com, unless the website disparages NI or any of it's products. (I had to look up disparage on google translate).

So what is the legal background of such a claim in the international realm that is called internet? (note that the url of the terms of use implicatly mentions that it's US only).

So any webpage that mocks LabVIEW or where a user mentions a bug inside LabVIEW is not allowed to link to ni.com.

Strange.

Ton

As always, Wikipedia has some good info, and starting points for other reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink#Legal_issues

JZ

[Phillip Brooks]

I have just read the terms of use of NI.com (it's locate behind the legal section on the bottom of the ni.com homepage) and there is a section that NI gives the user the right to post a link to ni.com, unless the website disparages NI or any of it's products. (I had to look up disparage on google translate).

So what is the legal background of such a claim in the international realm that is called internet? (note that the url of the terms of use implicatly mentions that it's US only).

So any webpage that mocks LabVIEW or where a user mentions a bug inside LabVIEW is not allowed to link to ni.com.

Strange.

Ton

I presume that the reason for the clause is to allow NI to delete the disparaging post from their own web site and/or revoke the account of the poster in the event that NI doesn't like the link(s).

Probably more about NI's right to not host or provide links to unflattering or disparaging comments against them.

If the "I hate LabVIEW" thread occurred on the NI forum; I don't think they would do anything about it. If the originator of the discussion had started it on say the NI community forums instead of his onw blog, NI might at the very least close the thread for additional discussion. The funny thing is, if the 'I hate LabVIEW' folks HAD done this on the NI forums, they would have most certainly been 'educated' by the community, without NI's need to get involved.

Basically a CYA clause

[crelf]

I'm not sure that's what Ton's talking about. Hey Ton: can you post a link to or the text of the section you're talking about?

[Michael Aivaliotis]

So what's the real problem Ton? Do you have a website that's causing NI some problems?

[Daklu]

I wouldn't think talking about existing bugs meets the definition of "disparaging," but I'm not a lawyer so I can't say. Anyway, I don't think they have a legal basis to prevent anyone from linking to their website, regardless of the link source's content.

[Aristos Queue]

I wouldn't think talking about existing bugs meets the definition of "disparaging," but I'm not a lawyer so I can't say. Anyway, I don't think they have a legal basis to prevent anyone from linking to their website, regardless of the link source's content.

In the TOS, NI grants a limited right to use its trademark for the purposes of linking. Then the TOS specifies that the company can revoke that right if you abuse that right by putting their trademark on a page that is obscene or disparages NI. That I believe would be completely legit under trademark law. It is NOT saying that you cannot include a hyperlink to ni.com from one of these sites, only that said hyperlink cannot use the NI trademarks.

[crelf]

In the TOS, NI grants a limited right to use its trademark for the purposes of linking. Then the TOS specifies that the company can revoke that right if you abuse that right by putting their trademark on a page that is obscene or disparages NI. That I believe would be completely legit under trademark law. It is NOT saying that you cannot include a hyperlink to ni.com from one of these sites, only that said hyperlink cannot use the NI trademarks.

Right - now that you've posted the verbiage, I agree with AQ. You can link all you want, but you can't link and use the text "National Instruments" (or any other NI trademark) for the link. NI owns the "National Instruments" text in this context, and is totally within their rights to control its use.