Internet Law Predictions for 2013

Tech Legal World - Web Law - Legal Predictions for 2013 

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As we come to the fag end of 2012, Tech Legal World (TLW) takes a look at the potential Internet Legal Issues that can emerge in the year 2013.

Social Media Evangelists will continue to be persecuted throughout the world for their tweets, retweets, comments, likes etc on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter.

Governments throughout the world will keep a close watch on these social media platforms and innocent Netizens will be “Facebooked” and arrested without following the due process of law – remember the case in India where two girls were “Facebooked” and arrested for "Commenting" and “Liking” on Facebook.

There will be tighter legal control and monitoring of the social media by Governments and other authorities, namely twitter, Facebook and other social networking platforms. Legal actions against individuals will continue increase.

Internet Freedom and Anonymity will be a relic of the past. Governments throughout the world will try to gain control over the Internet and frame tighter laws thereby making it a potential legal landmine!

Internet libel and defamation cases will continue to grow exponentially throughout the world especially in the highly litigious United States.  In England's first Twitter libel case, New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns was awarded £90,000 in damages.

Tech savvy youngsters and Netizens downloading music and other stuff illegally will be booked by the authorities and prosecuted under copyright laws – The Finnish police recently set off a precedent by confiscating the laptop of a nine year old girl for allegedly illegally downloaded a music album from The Pirate Bay Website.

Dark cloudy days await cloud computing users - Cloud users will have no other option but to settle for a one sided agreement  (Terms of Use a.k.a Terms of Service) with Internet Giants like Microsoft, Apple, to name a few. Cloud computing would continue to raise legal issues on Data Security, Privacy, Data Retention, Data Protection and other emerging grey areas.

Arrival of the 4G- the emerging legal issues.  The growth spurt in 4G, smartphones and tablet devices would mean leakage of personal and other sensitive data from mobile platforms and devices. This would include personal photos, videos, GPS data, credit card data  etc. Privacy would still remain at risk and a distant dream.
 
Happy holidays and best wishes for a prosperous new year!

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Website Legal Compliance - Is your Business Website Legal?

Online & Offline Legal Strategies for the Digital Age! 

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Protect your website and your business from legal threats with “custom made” Website Legal Documents to meet your specific business needs. “ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL”.

Legal protection for your website is far more important these days than ever before.  The recent past has seen the Internet getting more and more regulated by Governments, Regulatory Authorities and Consumer Watchdogs throughout the world. It is fairly easy to launch a legal assault at a Website mainly because of its 24/7 visibility on the Net which makes the Internet landscape a potential “Legal Landmine”.

Most Start ups and Small and Medium Businesses tend to ignore the legal requirements for their business website mainly due to lack of budget coupled with the lack of understanding of the proper legal documents required for their website.  Businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions need to comply with the legal requirements in the countries that they operate or do business.  For example, companies targeting US customers will have to comply with a myriad of laws and regulations laid down by FTC, FDA, while those businesses targeting the European markets will have to comply with European Union Regulations. 

The “big players” have bigger budgets and hire the best Internet Attorneys to draft their custom made legal documents to protect them from potential legal assaults while the “small players” with their limited resources tend to resort to a quick “copy paste” from other websites.  This can prove to be fatal due to the fact that such documents may be subjected to copyright or need not necessarily suit the nature of one’s business.  Remember, every business scenario is different. So “ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL”.

The need to comply with the ever changing rules and regulations due to technological advancement in multiple jurisdictions across the world also makes Website Legal Compliance a tricky issue since most traditional law firms and lawyers fail to understand the technicalities of the architecture of the internet and its ever changing nature.

Some of the important website legal documents that your business website would require to prevent a legal assault are given below.

Website Legal Checklist (Non-exhaustive)

1. Terms of Use a.k.a. Terms and Conditions of use – aimed both at registered and unregistered visitors to the website in the form of a Browse-Wrap agreement

2. Privacy Policy –  This document informs visitors regarding the website’s policy regarding the collection, use, sharing, storage, security arrangements, transmission of personal and other sensitive data collected using a contact form, email or by cookies.

3. Copyright notice© – Do you have ownership of your website content, photographs or has it been stolen from other websites? This could trigger a legal assault for violation of intellectual rights resulting in damages.  Tips - Utilize tools like Copyscape which can check for DUPLICATE content that has been stolen.  Services like TinEye checks for stolen photographs and its origin within seconds.  Also verify who has posted the content online first by using the services of Wayback Machine.

4. Website design – Do not copy designs, layout etc from other’s website without their written permission.

5. Trademarks and Service Marks.  Do not infringe someone else’s trademark by using your competitor’s trademark to divert traffic to your website by using those marks in pay-per click (PPC) ads.  This can also lead to blacklisting by search engines like Google.

6. Audio and Video Terms of Use and ownership

7. Anti-Spam Policy

8. External Links Policy (links to other websites)

9. Disclaimers for earnings, health and others.

10. Affiliate Agreement (for affiliate marketing)

11. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice

12. Health Disclaimers under the US law (for sale of health products)

13. Refund & Returns Policy (for E-commerce websites)

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Legal Risk Management Strategies for Start ups.

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Most young entrepreneurs seem to be in a hurry in today’s fast moving “high tech world” to create the next “Google” or “Facebook” and as a result ignore the key legal requirements involved in a start up phase. 

Proper Legal Risk Management Strategies especially at the start up phase can go a long way in preventing legal assaults, protracted law suits, mitigating legal risks, and thereby leading to a smooth sailing resulting in a timely transition to the next phase. 

Ignoring the legalities involved in various aspects of a start up can have far reaching legal consequences further down the line which can cost valuable time and drain one’s financial resources through legal fees, court battle, uncertainty, loss of precious time and goodwill.

Choosing a name  – This can be a tricky issue and not enough time is usually spent on deciding the name due to time constraints which can have far reaching legal implications. Make a diligent search through various online and offline sources to make sure you are not using an identical or closely similar existing name, keeping in mind the nature of the “ border-less world” and today since the world is the marketplace,  legal threats can emanate from any part of the globe. 

Avoid trademark infringement. Do not choose a name or a mark that causes a likelihood of confusion with another existing person or company. For example, using “McFries” can invite a legal action from McDonald’s. 

Thus ignoring the legalities in selecting a name for your start up can result in significant legal and administrative costs and can eventually lead to a forceful name change due to legal action.

Choosing a Business Structure or Entity – One of the most crucial decisions to be made during a start up phase is the type of legal structure or business entity you select for your venture.  This will have an impact on personal liability of members, tax structure, statutory legal documents to be maintained, and the ability to raise funds from Venture Capitalists or Angel Investors.
 
Some of the most common forms of business entities are Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, Limited Liability Company, (LLC), and Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). 

The LLC and LLP have been gaining popularity as a business entity throughout the world since it combines the advantages and benefits of both a Corporation and Partnership and provides limited liability to its owners by protecting its owners from personal liability unlike in a Sole Proprietorship.

So what’s our take?

Well, under the “traditional partnership firm,” every partner is liable, jointly with all the other partners and also severally for all acts of the firm done while he/she is a partner.

Under LLP structure, liability of the partner is limited to his agreed contribution.  Furthermore, no partner is liable on account of the independent or un-authorized acts of other partners, thus allowing individual partners to be shielded from joint liability created by another partner’s wrongful acts or misconduct.

So give the LLP/LLC business entity a shot!!

Keep reading our blogs to avoid legal pitfalls and have a smooth sailing in the highly litigious borderless world!

Look out for our blog on Business Website Legal Compliance and Documentation.

Legal Risk Management Strategies for the Internet Era!

Tech Legal World provides Legal Risk Management Solutions in the Digital Era. We believe that "one size does not fit all" and that legal solutions should be tailor-made to manage one's specific legal risk in the Internet Era. 

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Our Services Include;

• Legal Risk Management strategies both online and offline.
• Website Legal Compliance. 
• Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Disclaimers. 
• Data Protection issues.
• Online Legal Intelligence.
• Plagarism, Copyright, Trade Mark infringement watch.
• Online Reputation Management Strategies for Small and Medium Businesses, NGOs, Organizations & Institutions.
• Online Consumer Dispute Redressal Strategies.
• E-commerce Compliance issues.
• Content Creation-Legal and Business.
• Articles and updates on Internet Law, Technology, Business, Culture etc
• Litigation/Lawyer Referral.
• Bloggers’ rights.
• Law Firm Marketing strategies.
• Compliance under the Information Technology Act and also across multiple jurisdictions including EU, US etc.