How do you carry out copywriting services competitor research lawfully?

What to take away

Start with the question, not the competitor

Competitor research for copywriting services only pays off when it answers a buying question your own audience already has. Before collecting anything, write one sentence: what decision will this research change?

Pick the questions your most recent enquiries raised, then check how rivals answer them. Two or three dated notes per site beat a long report nobody opens.

A team publishing a price comparison needs published rates and dated screenshots. A team rewriting its homepage needs tone, structure and proof types.

If you cannot name the decision, the research becomes a folder of screenshots nobody reads.

Watch the legal edges that catch researchers

In England and Wales, defamation is a risk when you publish a claim about a named business. Section 2 of the Defamation Act 2013 provides the defence of truth, and section 3 provides the defence of honest opinion. Keep evidence that supports the claim and, for opinion, make clear the facts it is based on.

Keep dated evidence for every negative claim.

Bribery matters when research involves hospitality, gifts or paid endorsements. The Bribery Act 2010 guidance explains the anti-bribery procedures expected of commercial organisations, which is relevant if you pay a competitor's client for a testimonial.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) and the ICO’s guidance on storage and access technologies concern technologies your business places on, or accesses from, users’ devices. They may apply to cookies, analytics and personalisation on your own site; simply visiting a rival’s public site does not make you responsible for its consent banner.

If research collects personal data, including information about identifiable clients or contacts, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply. Identify and document a lawful basis, collect only what you need, and set a retention period; publicly available information is not automatically exempt. The ICO is the UK’s data protection regulator: check its guidance on the data protection fee and use its contact route for data protection queries.

Facts can be recorded in your own words, but a competitor’s page text, images and case studies may be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. There is no blanket right to reproduce them: fair dealing exceptions for quotation or criticism and review have conditions, including fairness and sufficient acknowledgement where required. Use only what is needed, acknowledge the source, and seek permission when in doubt.

Systematic copying of a rival’s site can also raise database rights and terms-of-use issues. The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 protect database rights; extracting or reusing a substantial part, or repeatedly extracting insubstantial parts, may infringe those rights. Read the site’s terms and do not treat public access as permission for unrestricted scraping.

Do not scrape logged-in client areas or bypass access controls without authority: that may engage the Computer Misuse Act 1990. A straightforward enquiry as a prospective buyer is not automatically unlawful merely because it is research, but it does not authorise access to restricted systems or obtaining confidential information through deception.

Neutral wording helps, but it does not make an unsupported claim safe. Record what the source says and distinguish verifiable facts from opinion.

If your marketing identifies a competitor, comparative advertising is subject to the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008. Comparisons must meet the regulations’ conditions, including being objective and covering material, relevant, verifiable and representative features; they must not mislead, confuse or discredit a competitor. The CAP Code also sets rules for marketing communications, including comparative claims, and is administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

A checklist you can run in one afternoon

Choose the method that fits the decision

If you survey your own clients, ask only questions that help answer your research question and collect only the information you need.

Keep the five most useful findings and discard the rest. A comparison table with twenty rows rarely changes a headline, a price or a promise.

Who signs off before publication

Any comparison that names a business should pass a second reader. That reader checks three things: is the claim dated, is it supported by a saved source, and would you defend it in writing?

Sign-off is not a formality. It is the point where a finding about a named business becomes a published claim, and where a missing date turns a careful comparison into a risk.

What counts as enough evidence

Enough evidence is a saved page, a date and a note explaining what it shows. A single undated screenshot is rarely enough for a negative claim about a named rival. For pricing claims, the saved page and its date matter more than the wording of your summary.

When to leave a competitor unnamed

Leave a rival unnamed when the finding is negative, when the evidence is thin, or when the point can be made about the category instead. Category-level criticism is usually safer and more useful to readers.

Common questions

Do I need permission to quote a competitor's published page?

There is no blanket permission to reproduce a competitor’s page. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 includes fair dealing exceptions for quotation and criticism or review, subject to conditions such as fairness and sufficient acknowledgement where required. Summarising and linking is usually safer; use only what is needed, and get permission for images or case studies unless you are sure an exception applies.

Can I use a competitor's pricing in my own marketing?

You can make a comparison only if it meets the rules for comparative advertising. Under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, claims must be accurate and meet the conditions for objective, verifiable comparisons; the CAP Code also applies to marketing communications within its scope. Date the price, keep evidence and update or remove the claim when it changes.

What if a competitor complains about my comparison?

Check your evidence first, then correct anything wrong or out of date quickly. A dated correction beats a prolonged argument.

Does research need a written record?

A short record of the question, method and sources protects you later. It also stops the next person repeating the work.