Can I legally make a website about boycotting a certain company?












5















Located in the US. Can I make a website which is specifically aimed at boycotting a certain company?



There is no lawsuit between myself and the company.



There would be no defamation on the website and no editorials or subjective content. There might be links to editorials hosted on other websites. This website content would simply be information about alternatives.



However, I would want the name of the website, including the domain name itself, to have the name of the company this is in reference to. For example (NOT the actual website: boycottstackexchange.com)










share|improve this question









New contributor




Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

























    5















    Located in the US. Can I make a website which is specifically aimed at boycotting a certain company?



    There is no lawsuit between myself and the company.



    There would be no defamation on the website and no editorials or subjective content. There might be links to editorials hosted on other websites. This website content would simply be information about alternatives.



    However, I would want the name of the website, including the domain name itself, to have the name of the company this is in reference to. For example (NOT the actual website: boycottstackexchange.com)










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      5












      5








      5








      Located in the US. Can I make a website which is specifically aimed at boycotting a certain company?



      There is no lawsuit between myself and the company.



      There would be no defamation on the website and no editorials or subjective content. There might be links to editorials hosted on other websites. This website content would simply be information about alternatives.



      However, I would want the name of the website, including the domain name itself, to have the name of the company this is in reference to. For example (NOT the actual website: boycottstackexchange.com)










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      Located in the US. Can I make a website which is specifically aimed at boycotting a certain company?



      There is no lawsuit between myself and the company.



      There would be no defamation on the website and no editorials or subjective content. There might be links to editorials hosted on other websites. This website content would simply be information about alternatives.



      However, I would want the name of the website, including the domain name itself, to have the name of the company this is in reference to. For example (NOT the actual website: boycottstackexchange.com)







      united-states website






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 6 hours ago









      David Siegel

      9,9441641




      9,9441641






      New contributor




      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 7 hours ago









      FrownFrown

      1285




      1285




      New contributor




      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      Frown is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          11














          Yes you can, and you can even include "editorials or subjective content". However, if you include factual statements, or words that imply factual statements, the company could claim that they are false, and therefore defamatory. Indeed they might claim that in any case. If you make no false statements of fact, they should not be able to win a defamation suit, but you might need to spend time and money defending yourself if they choose to sue.



          The detailed rules on defamation vary by jurisdiction, in the US by state. But in no US state can defamation be found against a person who neither made nor implied a false statement of fact.



          Use of the name of the company, along with "boycott" as in "BoycottXYXCorp.com" would not infringe any trademark XYZ might have. It is clearly Nominative use, as no one could reasonably believe that such a site was run by, sponsored, or endorsed by XYZ. Again, XYZ could always sue, even if they are highly likely to lose quickly.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 3





            Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

            – IllusiveBrian
            3 hours ago











          • It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

            – chrylis
            45 mins ago






          • 1





            @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

            – Aethenosity
            33 mins ago











          • wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

            – Flying Thunder
            6 mins ago











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "617"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });






          Frown is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2flaw.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f37408%2fcan-i-legally-make-a-website-about-boycotting-a-certain-company%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          11














          Yes you can, and you can even include "editorials or subjective content". However, if you include factual statements, or words that imply factual statements, the company could claim that they are false, and therefore defamatory. Indeed they might claim that in any case. If you make no false statements of fact, they should not be able to win a defamation suit, but you might need to spend time and money defending yourself if they choose to sue.



          The detailed rules on defamation vary by jurisdiction, in the US by state. But in no US state can defamation be found against a person who neither made nor implied a false statement of fact.



          Use of the name of the company, along with "boycott" as in "BoycottXYXCorp.com" would not infringe any trademark XYZ might have. It is clearly Nominative use, as no one could reasonably believe that such a site was run by, sponsored, or endorsed by XYZ. Again, XYZ could always sue, even if they are highly likely to lose quickly.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 3





            Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

            – IllusiveBrian
            3 hours ago











          • It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

            – chrylis
            45 mins ago






          • 1





            @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

            – Aethenosity
            33 mins ago











          • wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

            – Flying Thunder
            6 mins ago
















          11














          Yes you can, and you can even include "editorials or subjective content". However, if you include factual statements, or words that imply factual statements, the company could claim that they are false, and therefore defamatory. Indeed they might claim that in any case. If you make no false statements of fact, they should not be able to win a defamation suit, but you might need to spend time and money defending yourself if they choose to sue.



          The detailed rules on defamation vary by jurisdiction, in the US by state. But in no US state can defamation be found against a person who neither made nor implied a false statement of fact.



          Use of the name of the company, along with "boycott" as in "BoycottXYXCorp.com" would not infringe any trademark XYZ might have. It is clearly Nominative use, as no one could reasonably believe that such a site was run by, sponsored, or endorsed by XYZ. Again, XYZ could always sue, even if they are highly likely to lose quickly.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 3





            Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

            – IllusiveBrian
            3 hours ago











          • It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

            – chrylis
            45 mins ago






          • 1





            @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

            – Aethenosity
            33 mins ago











          • wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

            – Flying Thunder
            6 mins ago














          11












          11








          11







          Yes you can, and you can even include "editorials or subjective content". However, if you include factual statements, or words that imply factual statements, the company could claim that they are false, and therefore defamatory. Indeed they might claim that in any case. If you make no false statements of fact, they should not be able to win a defamation suit, but you might need to spend time and money defending yourself if they choose to sue.



          The detailed rules on defamation vary by jurisdiction, in the US by state. But in no US state can defamation be found against a person who neither made nor implied a false statement of fact.



          Use of the name of the company, along with "boycott" as in "BoycottXYXCorp.com" would not infringe any trademark XYZ might have. It is clearly Nominative use, as no one could reasonably believe that such a site was run by, sponsored, or endorsed by XYZ. Again, XYZ could always sue, even if they are highly likely to lose quickly.






          share|improve this answer















          Yes you can, and you can even include "editorials or subjective content". However, if you include factual statements, or words that imply factual statements, the company could claim that they are false, and therefore defamatory. Indeed they might claim that in any case. If you make no false statements of fact, they should not be able to win a defamation suit, but you might need to spend time and money defending yourself if they choose to sue.



          The detailed rules on defamation vary by jurisdiction, in the US by state. But in no US state can defamation be found against a person who neither made nor implied a false statement of fact.



          Use of the name of the company, along with "boycott" as in "BoycottXYXCorp.com" would not infringe any trademark XYZ might have. It is clearly Nominative use, as no one could reasonably believe that such a site was run by, sponsored, or endorsed by XYZ. Again, XYZ could always sue, even if they are highly likely to lose quickly.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited 6 hours ago

























          answered 7 hours ago









          David SiegelDavid Siegel

          9,9441641




          9,9441641








          • 3





            Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

            – IllusiveBrian
            3 hours ago











          • It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

            – chrylis
            45 mins ago






          • 1





            @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

            – Aethenosity
            33 mins ago











          • wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

            – Flying Thunder
            6 mins ago














          • 3





            Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

            – IllusiveBrian
            3 hours ago











          • It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

            – chrylis
            45 mins ago






          • 1





            @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

            – Aethenosity
            33 mins ago











          • wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

            – Flying Thunder
            6 mins ago








          3




          3





          Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

          – IllusiveBrian
          3 hours ago





          Depending on the state, if the company filed a claim it knew it would lose for the purpose of wasting the defendent's resources, the defendant could retaliate with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit to recover damages and attorney's fees.

          – IllusiveBrian
          3 hours ago













          It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

          – chrylis
          45 mins ago





          It might be useful to include the now-established practice of XYZsucks.com.

          – chrylis
          45 mins ago




          1




          1





          @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

          – Aethenosity
          33 mins ago





          @IllusiveBrian that is true, but you only recover the resources AFTERWARDS iirc. So it may still be tough going for a bit.

          – Aethenosity
          33 mins ago













          wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

          – Flying Thunder
          6 mins ago





          wait - you need to spend time and money on something like this in the US? I would have though that if its obvious the lawsuit of the company has no ground, you wouldnt have to fear losing money - at least in germany, the one who loses the lawsuit has to pay for the costs, as far as i know

          – Flying Thunder
          6 mins ago










          Frown is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          Frown is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













          Frown is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












          Frown is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















          Thanks for contributing an answer to Law Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2flaw.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f37408%2fcan-i-legally-make-a-website-about-boycotting-a-certain-company%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          "Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'ON'. (on update cascade, on delete cascade,)

          Alcedinidae

          RAC Tourist Trophy