is it legal to have a link to ANY website/webpage from your app..(custom url plug in)without permission . akshay

No cut and dry answer for this, and I am not a lawyer (As the cool kids say: IANAL), but sure it's legal. Hyperlinks is how the internet works. However... There is a point where this becomes wrong. Theoretically you could recreate someone's entire website in this manner without their permission and make an app version of their site. At some point this becomes theft of intellectual property, which is illegal. Also, throw in copyright and trademark infringement as well. From the other side, I'm sure there are bunches of businesses that are listed in app business directories that have no idea that they're there. I'm sure most of these businesses don't mind that they're in there, but there's a line that can get crossed.

Yes/No..... Thats an Law thing..... When you Deeplink somthing normaly you need the Permission... Its also an Question how you make the Links... An Example.... You make an Button with "My Searchmachine what i have Programmed" and this Button goes to www|google|com.... The best thing is to include also an htmlfile with "Legal Details" about the linked Sites and also you as Person.... The Rights are the Same as on Homepages.... RSS is the Same.... Mostly its Free for your Peronal Use, but not to include the RSS Feeds in an App.... We have made an big Political App and before we begined to Programming it we asked ALL owners from the Feeds to write as the permission that we can use that.... Copyright is Copyright.... Text, Images, Video... all the Same... Not all on Internet is Public Domain ;-)

very much appreciated Kozmoweb and Worker73..very detailed clarification by both of you pointing to same conclusion.. thanks again.. cheers

Some sites and rss feeds have terms and conditions of use that may help you too.

It's legal. After all, how does Google get your web link? If all you're doing is linking to their page, it is legal. But you must remember that whatever you link to is not in your control, so if content changes on their website, you wouldn't be able to edit it, without admin permissions. This once happened to me. There are a group of people in Woodstock (who think they are the big boys), who organise the events, and have a pretty slick looking website. I linked several pages of their website from my app. They offered to 'buy-me-out' and gain access to my source code, my buzztouch control panel and everything. When they offered a price that wasn't good enough for me, they cut off the links (sending my app users to inappropriate p**n sites). Luckily, I found this out within an hour of them doing this, so no harm was done. It just goes to show how greedy some people are. If they can't get what they want, they can just cut you off.

Is viewing a site via an android webview any different to viewing it through a browser? I mean is it not just a tool that lets you view the webpage in same way as using chrome or firefox etc. There are browser apps like dolphin etc, is using this any different from using a webview in your own app? the whole thing is a bit of a grey area in my book. It would be good to get official confirmation from someone who knows the true legal answer to all this.

@Thomas: Sorry... but you are sooo WRONG! Iam 40 Years old 25 Years in the IT and next Year 15 Years self-employed with my PR - Agency. When you make an App then its your Personal Creation... When you link to an Side this is the Personal Creation of them... When you load the Personal Creation of someone Others to your App whitout permission of them, then its illegal (Here in Austria, in Germany... think also in the whole Europe and i think also in the rest of the World) Thats the same when i Download an App from you, decompile at and Use your Images and your Code.... Because i can Download it that means that i can Use it for Free and male Money or something else with it? Just take a look on this link: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/nov/26/news-photography-medialaw" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/nov/26/news-photography-medialaw</a> Maybe this one helps to think in the right way....Doesnt matter Code, Photos, Text... all of them... @Mr stuck: De diffrend thing is that the mainfunction of an Browser (Like Dolphin) is to bring Users in the Internet to View Websites.... Here we are taking about viewing ONE Site what is -maybe- Copyright by an other Person and then via Plugin integraded in Your Work... Edit: And i think Smug can Say something to that Question... Because he have writed this HowTo: https://www.buzztouch.com/files/howtos/BTCopyright.pdf

@Worker73... I do agree that taking photos is completely illegal, and nobody should do it. However, web-links is a different story. There are certain rules included into web-links, such as if the website is doing illegal activity, it would be illegal to link to them. However, if linking to just web-pages would be an issue, then Search engines wouldn't exist, or by that matter, Wikipedia, or Yelp. The Search Engine is just loads of links... and it's their creation, not ours. Wikipedia links to references it uses. Yelp links to people's websites and telephone numbers without permission. You have to get permission to take it off their sites. So my point stands that if the website isn't doing anything illegal, then it would be fine to use the web-link. Remember, people link to websites such as Facebook pages all the time, although may not get prior permission. I do agree that taking content is not correct, but that's taking content, not showing it.

Yes I agree that it is just one site and don't dispute the copyright side of it, I just fail to understand how displaying a webpage in a webview via a menu item in an app is any different to using a hyperlink image or web address to do the same thing, the end product is the same, you click a link or ad image or a "click here" etc and it shows the content in chosen browser. How is that different than showing in a webview as the chosen browser? it is a grey area and needs some clear guide to what is acceptable or not. It is a debate that will always be around but will never have a definitive answer

Thats a little bit harder to Explain... A Search Engine doesnt own anything... the "only" collect and give it out. They only Advise an Link when you Pay for it and give them the Rights for it. Thats the Diffrents.... But, when you make an App and you include an NON EXPLICIT PUBLIC DOMAIN Site in your App whitout permission of the owner. Then its an Copyright Problem..... My Wife is Translater for Italien, German, English and we have Partners for Translating in Spain and Russia.... The Same Copyrights for Photos are also for Text.... Also when i write here... its my personal (But really bad English *grin*) writing and i own automatical the Copyright on it.... In Austria there is also an Right BEFORE the Copyright. The German word vor it is Urheberrecht... that means Createrright. That Right is the only Right in our Law what you cant give to an other Person. That means.... When i creating Something... doesnt matter what.... i am the "Creater" of it. When you take it whitout my permission.... you are breaking my Right as "Creater" ans also the Copyright. Thats a second Security here in Austria ;-) And Please.... look on the Startquestion again... Akshay 's Question was (With BIG letters) ANY!! Any means ANY!

@Mr Stuck: I think this is also an Country Problem.... In CHina is it an HONOR when one Person steels somthing from the Other... The Law there have no Copyrights like we.... Every Country has it Own Laws.... Dows anybody readed the iTunes ore the GooglePlayStore Developer Pages that you must Aggry to Upload an App? Just take some Time and take a look on it.... Very Interesting things in there.... ;-) Like.... Use only Stuff that you are own.....

With a little search on Google i have found these: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/ Thats from US... Europe is diffrent, but i think thats an good Startingpoint...

@akshay , could u be a bit more specific in the kind of links u are referring to? do u have an example? cause honestly it does depend.

> is it legal to have a link to ANY website/webpage from your app..(custom url plug in)without permission . OK, here's the original question for this thread. He is not asking about inserting pages from another site, as many in this thread have implicitly understood to be so. He is asking about links to other sites. Links are ok and will always be. If someone on the street stops you and asks where is the nearest book shop, you are completely free to talk about it and point to the right direction. In Internet terms, you have given them a link where to go. You did not tell them to go inside and tear apart pages from any of the books in the book shop, did you? When they come to the book shop, they should better learn / hear / read about the code of conduct in that shop. That is why you should have something like Terms of Service page on your site or app. If you want to be secure and fair at the same time, put which court in which country under which kind of law you will turn to for protection of your book shop / site / app... but that makes sense only after someone tries to rob your site / shop, not only because someone glanced at the direction of your shop window (i.e. when they see the front page of the site). So links are OK. On the other hand, why do the presentations exist at all? To be SEEN. Do not put up a site and the presentation on that site and then complain how you will be robbed by people just visiting it. If you want to sell your content, then you can. Put up a membership site and do not let anyone in without payment. Just like in a theater, you can see it when you pay. But you do not have to pay to view the bilboard in front of the theater which is inviting you to come in. And it is certainly legal to point to the direction of the theater i.e. to give links in Internet terms. Note. I am not a lawyer nor does it matter for this discussion. Laws are different in each contry and do not think that US laws bind the entire planet just because Apple, Google and Facebook are US companies. Instead, I am a published book author and I also run a book publishing company. I have seen and studied the legal contracts from both points of vew and that is how I draw my experience in this matter.

Took half an hour going through all. Thanks Alanmac ,Thomas,Mr Stuck,Uelisimon,Dusko for replying @Thomas :curious how did the "BIG" guys do that.Does that mean if someone put their website in adress bar they all would be redirected to P**n websites or just traffic from your app to those sites @Worker73: I opened your link and seeing it just felt like closing it :)We all want easy quick and FAVOURABLE answer.cheers @Uelsimon :It is a simple app named "Various Tech blogs"Yesterday i accessed various techblogs from mobile to see how they look on android and already shortlisted a list.do i have a green signal?(i had sent u a pm a week ago regarding your app) @Dusko:"You did not tell them to go inside and tear apart pages from any of the books in the book shop, did you? "haha...I am assuming green signal cheers and thanks again

There is a lot of content out there that is copyright and sometimes people are very careful about how that is presented and protect that legally. If you link to another site using a BT app, you can make it look as if you are presenting that content as your own. Site owners often don't like that unless you do it with their permission. Thomas's story shows that if you link to pages on a site that is not your own, they can change those links as they see fit, although changing those links to unsavoury locations is a bit extreme. It pays to link with a sites permission. Sometimes you cannot even use certain terms in your app, as they may be trademarked. I have some experience in this area; in the past been asked to change the title of an app in the app store and I felt no option but to comply.

as long as its clear that its their site in ur app...and ur not scraping the content and presenting it as your own, you will be fine. especially if it opens in the browser, and they can register the hit as a visit to the site, and as long as their advertisements load... they'll thank you for it. you should be good. (will check for that pm)

@Alanmac:I will not make it look as if the material is mine.But i dont feel like asking all of them for permission.i will put disclaimer in app and remove the link if complaint comes.cheers @Uelsimon:Thanks

To be fair @Akshay, I rarely ask for 3rd party website permission for links, I put more emphasis on looking for their T'S and C's.

hi guys : so this was the app i made in less than a week which uses 10% vertical scroller +90% custom url plugins https://www.dropbox.com/s/slr9204zr2hobbf/varioustechblogs.apk its not live yet..but will be very soon.keeping this app in mind i had asked the above question