Legal rights about showing who's using your product


4

Can I list some of our clients on our website without their knowledge or do we need any specific permission from them?

I understand that it's always the best practice get a specific permission first from the company but in some big companies it's a pain to reach to the right person and get such permission and that's the exact kind of client that we want to show off. Such as governments.

Shall we add something to our licence agreement on during sign up / order?

Marketing Legal

asked Oct 28 '09 at 21:15
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The Dictator
2,305 points
Top digital marketing agency for SEO, content marketing, and PR: Demand Roll

4 Answers


4

Happy customers are one of your best sales tools, so you want to keep your customers happy. This means, among other things, maintaining great communications with them. One element of this communication is talking about things like endorsements.

Look at things from your customers' point of view. Their name is part of their brand, which they are proud of just like you are of yours. They want to control and protect usage of their brand. If you want to use their name -- their brand -- in endorsements, it's proper to seek permission. When they grant permission, then both of you are happy. You'll be happy to have a great endorsement, and they'll be happy to publicize the fact that they found a great product.

Standard practice in all the ventures I've been in has been to spell out endorsement and publicity policies in our customer contracts. This way the customers know that you'd like to do this. Some customers won't want you to use their name, not because they're unhappy, but because that's their own policy. You should respect their wishes if that's what they desire.

So, in short, tell customers you'd like to do this. Some will be flattered and happily allow you to do this. Others will not want you to use their name, and you should follow their wishes. And no matter what, put it in writing.

Best of luck!

answered Oct 28 '09 at 22:55
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Mark Beadles
502 points
  • Good points by Mark. Generally, asking can't hurt - the worst they can say is "No." Plus, if you've really done a good job and helped them, odds are pretty good they'll want to help you. – Josh Sam Bob 14 years ago

2

Many large companies have internal policies that prohibit endorsement of other companies' products or services. When I worked in the enterprise software sector, we had to be very careful about using these companies as public references.

It's not that we were worried about legal action. We simply wanted to keep on the good side of these large customer relationships. We hoped they'd buy more software from us in the future.

Annoying your customers is never good strategy. I'd recommend always checking first.

answered Oct 28 '09 at 22:31
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D Thrasher
894 points
  • To be honest, the think is generally you can't annoy a government agency they are not even aware who can grant permission or really care about usage of their name in a product's website :) – The Dictator 14 years ago
  • It all depends on which government agency. :-) – D Thrasher 14 years ago

1

Along with listing who is using your service, you would also want to display their feedback alongside their logo/name. You've no choice but communicate with them for the feedback part.

While most companies would love the free publicity, its extremely rare that some companies might get offended. If so, they'd ask you to remove it than taking some serious action.

And yeah some companies have a similar clause in their legal agreements but no one really cares.

answered Oct 28 '09 at 22:03
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Arpit Tambi
1,050 points
  • It's easy to say this if you haven't been hit with a lawsuit where taking down the offending content didn't stop the lawyers. Yes, it usually works, but I don't like to play the odds on the 1 in 100 where it does not. – Paul Mc Millan 14 years ago
  • I understand and I agree but as I see it, only 1 in 100 startups actually survives for more than 5 yrs or so. I don't mind taking massive risks in initial phases, cuz statistically odds of success are too low. :) – Arpit Tambi 14 years ago

0

Based on my experience, mid to large size company would not let you use the applications you've developed for them until approved by their PR department. You should take this very seriously without making any assumptions like "I did a good job, and they'll be happy to share the news about it with the rest of the world".

While approval process can take months, you can put the logo of your customers in your company's Web page "Our Clients".

answered Oct 28 '09 at 23:05
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Yakov Fain
221 points

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