I am new to the webdesign business and am trying to understand some things.

I am designing a website for a hair salon and they wanted to have a hair care product page with the logos of the different products companies they do business with and a link to the shampoo companies websites.

It is like a little 6 item directory that links people to the product websites to get more details. No hair care products are sold on the site I am designing.

I ask the salon owners to get permission from the hair care product companies and 2 actually provided feed back.

I am trusting the hair salon owners that they contacted the other 4 companies.

My question is what kind of liablity do I as the webdesigner and the salon owners have copying the hair care products logos without their approval? I am doing the webdesign work and adding the content for them as "work for hire".

Thanks

If your advertising for the company using their logo, or using it a kind of sponsor like web hosts do i shouldent see it as a problem at all.

It is extraordinarily rare that a company being sold through a vendor has a problem with their brand being used in marketing pieces. Typically, the brands that have a problem with this will explicitly state this in a very public manner (within their corporate sites typically). That being said, it is their prerogative to not allow people to use their brand, and many will allow use, but will give strict guidelines for that use.

In our TOS, we explicitly state all media provided by clients or client requests for media carried out by us are the responsibility of the client (we also give full site ownership upon payment). This effectively removes all liability from us for bad decisions a client might make. I would heartily suggest you incorporate the proper language into your TOS/contracts so your clients accept this responsibility too.

You have a moral obligation to give your clients good advice in such matters, but do everything in your power to reduce or eliminate your legal liability and you'll be fine.

Do a little searching, and if you find nothing, use the logos they want used. At worst, you'll get a request to remove them, you'll do it, and that will be that.

Thanks for your reply

Do you know where I could find a good free TOS agreement for webdesigners?

I also am a webmaster for my church. Is it Ok to copy book covers of bible studies, from online book sellers, which different small groups in the church are doing as a way to promote them? And logos of non-profit organizations we are supporting without getting approval first?

Thanks again

I also am a webmaster for my church. Is it Ok to copy book covers of bible studies, from online book sellers, which different small groups in the church are doing as a way to promote them? And logos of non-profit organizations we are supporting without getting approval first?

Thanks againThe same principle applies. Whoever creates a particular work is the owner and controls the rights of that work. You have to either get approval first, seek out rights somewhere or if you're confident your use of that work will be acceptable, notify the owner of your intent, and give them an opportunity to have input.

You shouldn't run into any problems. Those companies are just after sites that attempt to slander their products, not ones that promote them.