The website desiring this “license to link” is supposed to fill in this form and then fax—faxing is the only option—it in to Lowe’s and wait for permission. Assuming that permission is granted, the new licensee has the right to create his link, with certain caveats.
- This license shall be limited to a right to create the Link only to any page of Lowe’s website, (http://www.lowes.com). The Link shall be so configured that the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Lowe’s website (http://www.lowes.com) will be displayed continuously in a user’s browser once that user’s link is completed and throughout the entire duration of that user’s link. Further, Licensee shall not in any way alter, distort, or obscure any portion of the Lowe’s website, through metatags, framing or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Lowe’s.
This permission can be revoked by Lowe’s “for any reason.” In this case, “Licensee shall immediately terminate the Link.”
Uhh… Um… What?!?
“Managing link agreements is part of protecting our brand,” is the polite reply I received. “The process we have in place to handle links to lowes.com is a business decision.”
Uhh… yeah…
You know what, just because they don’t have a legal leg to stand on, and because I can link to any site on the internet, here’s a link to the Lowe‘s link agreement page:
But, you know what, maybe you shouldn’t click on it because they obviously don’t want the traffic. I think I’ve seen it all now.