

Ask YC: Where do you get simple legal counsel on your startup ideas? - lunchbox

I'm wondering what you guys think the best way is to get quick advice on simple legal questions related to startups. I'm not talking about complex things like drafting partnership agreements and evaluating the legal merits of a patent application; I'm talking about more basic things like "is it legal to make a mashup that scrapes data from ${website}.com?" or "can I be held responsible for comments users make on my website's forum?" In my last startup I did, I was luckily able to consult with a family friend who was a lawyer, but that might not be an option this time. Is there any solution to basic legal questions short of paying hundreds for a legal consultation? (Which seems like overkill for the type of questions I have.) If I need to see a lawyer, how can I find one who's cheap and is an expert on internet issues specifically?
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iamdave
"is it legal to make a mashup that scrapes data from ${website}.com?"

Is usually covered in either the site's privacy policy, or their TOS.

"can I be held responsible for comments users make on my website's forum?"

In many cases, no; but not all of them.

Overall, to answer your question I'm sure a business attorney would be willing
to answer such questions without any cost. I've consulted with a few of them,
drop in schedule a meeting and just ask some general questions without any
sort of consulting fee that you'd get with people who call themselves
'specialists'. With this sort of thing, I'd go directly to a lawyer; you avoid
both bs fees, and also getting involved with someone offering legal advice
without a license which can land you both in trouble.

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mixmax
The meta-solution would be to clone YC news now that it's open sourced and
create legalnews.com. As a site admin you'll get all the advice you want.

Of course you'll probably also be sued.

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iamdave
Right. Be very careful with that, operating without a license as mentioned is
sketchy and if someone calls you on it, good luck.

