HN Explorer

Ask HN: Can I use scrapped data on my, price comparison site, without consent?

2 points by 8draco8 ↗ HN
Here is an unrealistic example. Lets say that I am scrapping part of Amazon and couple other electronic stores (for example calculators sections). I am presenting all those calculators on my site, with part of the description and photos, there is clear information that those products come from Amazon and other stores and there are a links (not affiliate link) to buy those item on store website (sort of price comparison site but for calculators like skyscanner, gocompare or trivago).

Is it legal to use 3rd party data in this way without asking them about. Is this falling in to fare use?

I'm most interest about situation in UK.

9 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 28.3 ms ] thread
dazc
As a general rule of thumb (UK, specifically) asking for implicit permission will either get a standard no or no response at all.

However, if the information is reasonably accurate and links back to the merchant's site it is very unlikely they will complain, especially if the links are 'follow' and not affiliated (not that it would make much difference anyway).

brudgers
The owners of the sites, not the internet, can provide permission. If it is a question of not wanting to do something illegal but paying for legal advice does not make economic sense, then that's a sign that the larger project may not make economic sense. If there is no legal advice up front and the project turns out to create legal liability and be uneconomic, there is a non-trivial chance that you may wind up paying for legal advice down the road for a project that does not cover the cost.

Good luck.

ehllo
The use of intellectual property(images, text, ...) from a third party without consent is simply not legal in europe.

https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/copyright

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright

dozzie
Though trade offer (list of products and their prices) may not be an intellectual property.
tmaly
I remember there was a law passed in 2005 in the US that added additional protection to company databases and the data they contained.
eb0la
Look at robots.txt first.

If the website owner says there DO NoT CRAWL, uou cannot use that data.

chatmasta
You might have a fair use argument in that you're combining multiple data sources into something novel. Similar to how video compilations can be fair use. But IANAL and I don't know if that's been tested in court.