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Is it illegal to do this?

by Jonathan Price
7 replies
If I started a continuity program where every month I do a case-study on another marketer's business, i.e. examining Eben Pagan's "Double Your Dating" or Jermaine Griggs "Hear & Play" or Mike Geary's "Truth About Abs"... and I don't have the marketer's permission to do this, can I get in trouble?

Obviously I only will reveal what the public can see, i.e. "As you can see they have a free 14-day trial that increases sales" or "They have several backend products" etc etc.

Is this ok to do, or can I get sued or something?
#illegal
  • Profile picture of the author huester
    So what you are doing is providing a review on the product itself. which is perfectly legal. it wouldnt hurt thou to pop them a quick email. only takes 2 minutes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Norfolk
    If you do not reveal the insides of the system then you should be ok. Google's flooded with review sites and I hugely doubt every single author asked the owners for permission. But I would try to get in contact with the authors letting them know you're reviewing them and if there's something specific they want/don't want mentioned. You'll start building rapport and boost your brand.
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  • Profile picture of the author pdrs
    yeah just to echo what the others said - it's really a perfect opportunity to get in touch with the marketers. If you're doing a really good job they may even offer to do an interview or some other sort of "value add" for your readers which can be huge!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Price
    Well, it's not really a review, more of a "case study" of a successful infoproduct business for budding infopreneurs.

    So I would be examining:

    - Their pricing structures
    - What products they have for sale
    - Their affiliate programs
    - The newsletters they send
    - How they became successful

    Of course this info is available to the public and I'm not really revealing any secrets, I'm just giving my insight on them.

    Is this ok... or unethical in any way?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Jonathan Price View Post

      Well, it's not really a review, more of a "case study" of a successful infoproduct business for budding infopreneurs.
      What it's labeled as is pretty much semantics. I agree though that it is pretty much a review. A case study would actually involve you getting in with the seller and watching/recording how their business is run. From your OP, you seem unable or unwilling to do that so it wouldn't really be accurate to claim it as a case study.

      Originally Posted by Jonathan Price View Post

      So I would be examining:

      - Their pricing structures
      - What products they have for sale
      - Their affiliate programs
      - The newsletters they send
      - How they became successful

      Of course this info is available to the public and I'm not really revealing any secrets, I'm just giving my insight on them.
      Something to think about: what is your insight going to provide to readers? Why do they need to know what you think about someone else's business? What benefit do they get out of it?

      Originally Posted by Jonathan Price View Post

      Is this ok... or unethical in any way?
      As is, I don't think it's unethical. If you pretend to have information that you do not, or insinuate a connection with the people you are reviewing that you don't have there could be problems.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

        As is, I don't think it's unethical. If you pretend to have information that you do not, or insinuate a connection with the people you are reviewing that you don't have there could be problems.
        This.

        I'm no lawyer but can't really see why it would be illegal, from what you've said.

        However, I do think that calling it "case studies" is potentially misleading.

        To many people, that will (understandably?) imply that either you do have permission from the businesses studied or that at least you have some information not in the public domain. And even if it isn't illegal or unethical, some of the subjects might (reasonably?) complain about that implication, too. So I think you'd be well advised to reconsider your terminology, here.
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  • Profile picture of the author HelpingYouBeAnExpert
    Some people will sue you if you talk about their product without permission, even if you say the truth.
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    Join Next Live Mastermind Zoominar 100% Real World Secrets to Get Up And Running. Are you Stuck? Don’t miss it www.MonthlyMastermind.org
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