Entrepreneurship Month: How to Create and Maintain Your New Website’s Legality

What you’ll discover:

What legal considerations must I address while designing and establishing my website?
What should I know about trademarking my business and domain name?
Is a warning about data collecting from visitors required on my website?
Where can I receive further assistance with the legal elements of my website?

When building a new website, getting the legal aspects correct is generally not the first thing a small company owner thinks about. After all, creating content and selecting photographs to display your products or services is much more fun than considering the legal implications of whatever you post online.

Failure to consider these legal considerations, on the other hand, might lead to major problems down the line. That is why we have compiled and answered some of the most often asked concerns about the legality of websites and website content in order to assist you avoid legal pitfalls while creating and launching your website.

What legal considerations must I address while designing and establishing my website?

This is a wide subject, but someone who is creating a website for the first time may be unaware of how the law impacts their site. Some of the most prevalent problems are listed below.

Copyrights

A copyright is a sort of legal protection intended to prevent others from copying your work. Copying material (plagiarism) and utilizing photographs without permission or credit are two of the most prevalent problems with websites.

While it is often straightforward to download and use a picture from someone else’s website or a simple Google image search, you may be stealing someone else’s work, which might find you in hot water with copyright laws.

Creating your own pieces of art is one of the finest methods to handle copyright concerns with images. You may make them yourself or pay a photographer to do it for you. If that is not feasible, you may occasionally obtain free photographs online or negotiate a release agreement with the artist to utilize his or her work. Keep in mind that utilizing copyrighted photos without a permission or acknowledgment to the artist may result in legal responsibility.

Names of domains

Your domain name is often the same as your business name. This implies that, just like with a corporate name, you must use caution while using someone else’s domain name or information.

You should not only avoid utilizing someone else’s domain or business name, but you should also consider trademark registration or trademark protection for your own domain name.

Conditions of use

You’ve probably heard that your website needs a terms and conditions page. Yet, although this sort of information may not be necessary for every website, it is not a terrible idea. Unless you are collecting personal information from clients, there are no specific legal obligations for terms and conditions pages.

Contracts with your web designer

If you have hired someone to design and construct your website, you should have a contract with that person or organization. The contract should include provisions for:

The cost of services.
When and how services will be provided.
Who will have legal ownership of the design and the finished product?
How to end the agreement, including who owns the work in progress.
Copyright and trademark infringement protection.

It is critical to tailor a website design or website development contract to the scenario.

What should I know about trademarking my business and domain name?

A trademark provides legal protection for your company’s name and other identifying characteristics. It includes, in many circumstances, your domain name.

A domain name may generally be trademarked if it is memorable, inventive, or suggests a certain service or product. It must be different or easily associated with a certain firm. A trademark cannot be registered for vague or general phrases.

You must also be the first to utilize it in connection with the particular sale of goods or services you want to make. You may check the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s list of trademarks to see whether a certain domain has been trademarked before trying to use it.

Is a warning about data collecting from visitors required on my website?

If you are collecting personal information from visitors to your site, you will need to include a disclaimer to alert them that you are doing so. This disclaimer is also known as a “Privacy Policy.” This policy will clarify:

The kind of information you collect from visitors.
What you do with the knowledge you’ve acquired.
How will you safeguard the data? (including access and storage protocols).
How data transfers are dealt with.
Cookies are used.
Websites or organizations that are affiliated.

Personal information varies, however it might contain basic stuff like names and residences. It will include email addresses, social security numbers, bank accounts, phone numbers, and birth dates.

You risk breaking both federal and state privacy regulations if you do not include this sort of privacy policy (and really execute the actions to secure data). These legal infractions might have serious repercussions.

Where can I receive further assistance with the legal elements of my website?

Website developers and designers may be excellent resources for ensuring that you are in compliance with certain legal obligations, but they are not attorneys. While these developers may give some help, it is a good idea to consult with an attorney regarding compliance.