Legal Problems with Review Sites

[edmund81]

Hi,
I'm thinking of setting up a Review Site which is going to be called Review Miner (www.reviewminer.co.cc) but are there any legal things I have to take care of because there will occasionally be bad reviews and the companies names will be trademarks. All reviews will have a reason and will all be my opinions, other than the odd guest review which I will check. I will also put this (http://www.reviewminer.co.cc/Review_Miner/Site_Information_Frame.html) information in a frame somewhere on the website.
Any Help Would be Great, Thanks
P.S. It will be written in the UK

 

[masshuu]

I don't think theres much in the terms of legal things
You should be-able to use a company's name or product as long as it doesn't look like they endorse or sponsor you, its not Defamatory(a factual, negative, critical review usually isn't. a "this company sucks" can be) in any way, and you don't use a logo or image without permission.

-IANAL so don't sue me if a company sues you.

 

[Livewire]

Look up "Fair Use" online - I'm not a lawyer either, but Fair Use is how Wikipedia can have images/logos posted without getting sued

 

[descalzo]

Also, if you are going to use a company's logo, do not link the image from their site.

 

[edmund81]

So, about the fair use for criticism, basically if I give a reason why (e.g. 'I think x is bad, because it is really hard to do y') it is ok. It just has to be grounded not random saying bad things to get somethings reputation to suffer?

Also I wasn't thinking of using logos, just the names because I can't see anywhere to fit the logo in on the design.