Key Legal Issues To Consider When Creating a Website
This hub presents a discussion in relation to the legal issues involved in new website creation. The company management ought to address these legal issues before the new website created are or is used to avoid legal problems. The following are some of these issues.
a) Copyright Concern
Any party in the merger will be guilty of infringing the copyright if they happen to infringe the rights offered to copyright owners. It will therefore be necessary for the management to ensure that during the creation of the new website, other people’s work is not copied. In this perspective, the use of images should also be taken into consideration as other people are not expected to be used in the new website. The director in this case may not adapt the previous logos for AB since it was developed by an individual person who had no official contract with the AB. If such logos are adapted to the new company, the original designer may opt to sue the company and this may result in various legal disputes.
b) Concerns over the domain name.
The choosing and protection of a domain name is the most crucial detail when creating a website. Domain names are the website’s address. In recent times, there has been much dispute concerning domain names owing to the increasing popularity of the internet and the worldwide website. The company management should endeavor to acquire a registration on trademark with regard to the trade name adopted.
c) Concerns Over Trademark
A trademark can be described as either an image, word, slogan or device that is created as a means of identifying products or services of a specific party or company. Infringement of a trademark may happen if one party decides to employ another party’s mark in a manner that causes confusion, deception, or mistake with the consuming public. Such confusion may be related to the products or services of the defendants which may appear the same as that of the trademark owner. It may also be related to whether the defendant is either affiliated, associated, approved connected, sponsored, or authorized by the trademark owner. Because most websites may contain a discussion of services or products, developers ought to be aware of the potential issues related to the trademark.
Further, developers should also in selecting a trademark consider the relative strength of the mark so selected. There are particular marks, which are considered stronger in comparison to others. Again, stronger marks are those which have no association with the services or products which they are related with. The concerned people should make sure that a search on trademarks is thoroughly conducted to ensure that the trademark selected has no right with another person or company. There is also another issue of protecting the website and the database so created. This is a necessary step that can help in avoiding other people contravening such rights. The best way to do this is through registration of this trademark.
Defamation
Defamation can be defined as a false statement that is made concerning someone or an organization which negatively impacts on their reputation. However, for a statement to be considered defamatory, it must be published by a third party. Moreover, the person who had published the statement must have intended for that purpose. Whereas the internet could provide a new context where defaming statements could be made and published, there is little law that is actually related to the internet defamation accept the liability of service providers. However, web page developers ought to be careful in avoiding defaming another individual (s) on their websites, if it happens to be a statement which may damage another’s reputation or the reputation of an organization. It would therefore, be important for organizations to be careful and ensure that the statement on their websites are not defamatory in every sense to individuals or other entities.
Concerns Regarding Links and Framing
Links between pages are an important phenomena in regard to the worldwide web. If widespread linking were not there, the web as it has come to appear today could not have existed the way it is. However, there have been queries relating to the legality of such connections. This means that developers should in the course of their website developments be careful on the legality of such links.
A trademark can be described as either an image, word, slogan or device that is created as a means of identifying products or services of a specific party or company. Infringement of a trademark may happen if one party decides to employ another party’s mark in a manner that causes confusion, deception, or mistake with the consuming public. Such a confusion may be related with the products or services of the defendants which may appear the same as that of the trademark owner. It may also be related to whether the defendant is either affiliated, associated, approved connected, sponsored or authorized by the trademark owner. Because most websites may contain a discussion of services or products, developers ought to be aware on the potential issues related to the trademark.
Further, developers should also in selecting a trademark consider the relative strength of the mark so selected. There are particular marks, which are considered stronger in comparison to others. Again, stronger marks are those which have no association with the services or products which they are related with. The concerned people should make sure that a search on trademarks is thoroughly conducted to ensure that the trademark selected has no right with another person or company. There is also another issue of protecting the website and the database so created. This is a necessary step that can help in avoiding other people contravening such rights. The best way to do this is through registration of this trademark.
