

Ask HN: copying terms or FAQ off of other sites? - flavio87

Is there any legal risks involved in copying a competitors terms of service or for example his FAQ page and using it on your own site?
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JacobAldridge
IANAL.

Strategically - does the site you are copying have the same objectives as you?
Even similar size and age businesses in the same market may have different
strategic plans (eg, I want to build a passive income v I want an IPO exit),
so copying any of their collateral may push you towards their goals, not
yours.

Operationally - Do you really want to be setting the same expectations with
potential / actual clients as a competitor? Or do you want to stand out?
Again, their terms of service or responses to FAQs may not align with what you
want to achieve - save time by copying now, and wake up in 12 months realising
you hate your clients because they want all the things you didn't actually
intend to deliver.

Googlely - Duplicate content does an SEO disservice.

Legally - A lot of legal boilerplate stuff is basically or exactly the same
because it's based, eg, on the wording of legislation. You may get pinged for
copyright, if their copy (particularly in the FAQs) is distinct enough. And if
a user ever sues or kicks up a legal stink about your service, you won't be
able to go to your competitor's law firm and say "Hey - you wrote some stuff
for XYZ, I ripped it off, now it's being challenged, can you help".

tl;dr - The risks are greater than just legal. Ask yourself if it's worth the
effort.

