Legal Issues in an Internet Business

Stay on the right side of the law...

Although general business law applies to all businesses, this article will outline some of the legal issues concerning the implementation and running of an internet business. For more specific advice, you should contact a solicitor. Links to further information will be given where relevant.

(i) Domain Names

When purchasing a domain name for your internet business, you need to consider if you may be violating any trademark laws: you cannot use a domain name that consists of trademarks from another business. You will need to purchase a domain name and renew the registration
every year otherwise you will lose rights to use the domain name and will be put up for re-sale.
See the previous pages on ‘Domain Names’ for more information.

(ii) Framing

It can often be a copyright or trademark violation if you use framing to link to other web sites. Framing can often give a user the impression that the information is yours and will therefore credit the material to your business. Permission must be obtained if you intend to frame information from another web site. In some cases, this permission may be stated within their “terms of use” (or other similar named) policy.

(iii) Policies & Notices

For your benefit, you should create – and link from your home page – any policies and notices that would inform visitors and web publishers of your “rules”. This may include your ‘terms and conditions”, ‘privacy policy’ and ‘terms of use’ (for linking instructions, reproducing content, etc). Likewise, you should respect other web publisher’s notices and policies if you plan to use or link to their web site.

(iv) Copyright Notice

As above, it is important that you publish a copyright notice on the foot of every page. This will inform visitors of your rights and protection.

(v) Meta Tag Information

The meta tag information, which is edited within the HTML for search engines, must not violate copyright laws. Using trademarks of other companies in your meta tag information to enhance your web page is a major offence.

(vi) Linking to Other Web Sites

Yes, even linking can be an offence. However, many web publishers are happy for you to link to their web site and will allow you to freely do so. Linking within another web site (known as ‘deep linking’) can enrage web publishers as it by-passes most of their advertising on their home page: this may be the only strict rule they have with linking. Details of linking to other web sites is usually found on their ‘terms of use’ page, often linked from the home page.