Guidelines on public discussion of competitor product features
Guidelines on public discussion of competitor product features
These guidelines govern how to discuss and reference competitor product features and screenshots in public issues, GitLab documentation, and other public-facing media.
Scope
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Applies to: All public discussions of competitor product features and screenshots in public issues, GitLab documentation, and other public-facing forums, whether initiated by team members or community members.
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Does not apply to: Discussions in confidential issues, internal materials, or platforms accessible only to GitLab team members (like MURAL). For clarification on external vs. internal use, see the External vs. Internal Use section of the Materials Legal Review Process.
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Note that the term “Screenshots” when used within these guidelines includes screenshots and screen recordings from any source, including publicly available sources (YouTube videos, websites) and directly from competitor products.
Dos and don’ts
Do
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Initiate and engage in general discussions about competitor product features, including analysis of advantages and disadvantages.
Example: “collaborate.ly’s new merge commit message implementation has an interesting approach to handling conflicts. GitLab solves this differently by…”
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Share screenshots obtained from publicly available sources (not from free trials or paid accounts) when providing illustration and commentary.
Example: Sharing a screenshot from a competitor’s public documentation page to discuss UI differences.
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Engage in general discussions about competitor product features in response to screenshots shared by community members.
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Include competitor screenshots in GitLab documentation for reference purposes (for example, in migration instructions, integration guidance, or CI/CD usage in third-party repositories).
Example: Including screenshots in migration documentation that show where to find export options in the competitor’s interface.
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Reach out to #legal with any questions.
Do not
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Share competitor screenshots without accompanying commentary or critical analysis.
Example: Posting a competitor’s dashboard screenshot with no context or discussion.
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Initiate, or engage in, discussions proposing plans to directly copy competitor features verbatim, with or without screenshots.
Example: “We should copy collaborate.ly’s exact implementation of merge commit messages.”
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Share screenshots taken directly from competitor products through the use of free trials or paid accounts for competitive benchmarking.
Example: Taking screenshots while logged into a competitor’s product during a free trial period and sharing them publicly.
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Share screenshots that include competitor logos or third-party logos (except logos that are part of the product’s user interface).
Example: Sharing a screenshot that shows a competitor’s logo in the header or footer of their website.
For additional guidelines on competitive benchmarking, GitLab team members can refer to the internal-only Guidelines for use of third-party services for competitor benchmarking.
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