3rd party control of forum structure

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PSLog

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#25919 6-Sep-2008 13:27

I have started a forum for users of Motorhomes in NZ. Over half of the members of the forum are also members of the NZ Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA). Consequently, as a service to them, I have provided a sub-forum (with password access) for those members to discuss NZMCA matters.

The NZMCA seems to be telling me that I cannot have an NZMCA sub-forum without their permission (which they decline).

Seems to me they have no right to prevent my providing this NZMCA sub-forum but I would be really interested if anyone has actual experience of the legalities around this situation. If you do know what the answer is, it would be great to hear from you.

itxtme

2102 posts

Uber Geek

#162640 6-Sep-2008 14:50

In my opinion they have no right to tell you that you cant have the area. As long as you make it clear the subforum is not affiliated with them in anyway. It would be like me having a subforum on my website for geekzone members only to discuss things about geekzone and then freitasm telling my I cant.

He could delete me off of his forums, discourage his members from going there etc. etc. but as long as i didnt say they were my geekzone forums, he couldnt do anything about it!

PSLog

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#162643 6-Sep-2008 14:58

That's sort of what I thought. There are all sorts of analogies that seem equally ridiculous
eg Telecom denying Geekzone the right to have a Telecom sub-forum.
I guess the critical part is to ensure that there is no inferred claim that the sub-forum is in any way endorsed by the 3rd party.
Thanks.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79280 posts

Uber Geek

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Geekzone

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#162694 6-Sep-2008 22:21

Unless they want to be nasty and enforc a trademark. For example Geekzone is a registered trademark and we could prevent someone having a "Geekzone forum" in other domains. But then we wouldn't be good netizens, would we?