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What are the copyright issues surrounding frames?

Opening another site within a frame on your site is an "unauthorized derivative" of the original site. Its a copyright and bandwidth issue. You could get into trouble if someone notices in their stats that you're opening their site within your site.

"It is considered 'bad netiquette' to attempt to surround anyone else's web pages with your own advertising or content." aardvark.co.uk's linking policy

"....giving rise to a claim under the Lanham Act (part of the US federal trademark law)." Web Law FAQ

Guidelines for framing

Framing is a very powerful Internet technology but its use must be carefully evaluated especially when that use involves displaying the content from another Web site. Many of the legal issues that were raised in the TotalNews case are still unsettled and therefore legal guidelines as they relate to framing have not as yet been established. Therefore, if you intend to use framing technology on your Web site you should evaluate its use and you may want to take the following precautions.

  1. Do not frame a linked page within your Web sites advertising.
  2. Obtain permission to frame the content from another Web site on your Web site.
  3. Be careful about using your URL in the address portion of the browser if the content that is being displayed is from another Web site. Internet Legal Issues

"The copyright infringement here is the creation of a composite or derivative work without the permission of the author of the main component." Brad Templeton: Linking Rights

"...framed site could be considered a _derivative_ work or reproduction, and thus violate copyright laws. Any work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a derivative work." Unlawful Linking and Framing

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