E-Commerce Practice Area

E-Commerce Business

Conducting business in an electronic world has numerous benefits, but also has risks that must be minimized. E-commerce does not function in a vacuum. It is based upon solid contracting principles which must be modified to accommodate the electronic environment in which it exists. The starting point must be to review the underlying contracting principles, a service which CorpLaw can assist  you with. Please refer to the description of CorpLaw Contracts Services offerings, found elsewhere in this site.

E-commerce enables goods and services to be acquired on-line, requiring the business to have a presence on the Internet. The business must either develop its own Web site, or it may contract for development of a Web site with E-commerce functionality. The business may host (display) the Web site using its own computers, or it may contract for Web site hosting using the services of another business providing this function. Some providers may offer both services. Information necessary to deliver the goods and/or services is received from visitors to the E-commerce site, and is stored. There are legal privacy and security risks that apply to personal information maintained on business computers. If the business provides services to the health care or financial services industries, there are more complex legal requirements that apply to this information.

How CorpLaw Can Help You With E-Commerce Legal Issues

CorpLaw can assist by providing you with legal services and advise on all aspects of creating, maintaining and operating an on-line business. We can assist you by creating the legal form of the business entity you want to create. We can help you in obtaining the most favorable terms in contracting for Web site development and hosting services. Once you are conducting on-line activities, we can assist your business in avoiding the legal risks associated with obtaining and storing personal information of customers. We will let you know if you need or should have a Web site Privacy Policy, and if so, what points it should address. Or, we can actually prepare one for you. We can also help you if you discover that someone has tried to copy and use portions of your Web site, or if someone claims rights to your Domain Name or misuses the contents of your Web site.

CorpLaw has substantial experience in assessing and addressing contractual and E-commerce legal issues. Corplaw is here to back you up in any other manner to make sure that you are able to operate a successful on-line business.

CorpLaw Services

• Web site and other information technology agreements
• Review of rights related to development of web site
• Review and draft on-line “click wrap” agreements, and assist with administration
• Review and draft web site “permissible use” terms and conditions
• Review of web site linking practices
• Review and draft service level agreements
• Review and draft web site privacy policies
• Audit of legal risks related to access and storage of information, including privacy and security issues
• Protection from misappropriation of databases
• Assistance in identifying and preventing unsubstantiated web site claims
• Assist with EDI agreements and requirements
• Negotiate any agreement to protect client business rights and maximize benefits
• Drafting “best practices” language and guidelines for IT contracts
• Assistance with legal requirements for conducting international on-line transactions

Questions About Your E-Commerce Activities

There are many important questions to ask about your e-commerce activities, such as:

• Am I sure that I have all the legal rights to the design and contents of the Web site?
• Can I move the site to another hosting service?
• Am I using the site to gather personal or private information? What will I do with this private information?
• Is this information maintained in a secure environment? How secure?
• Do I make any E-commerce sales to residents of California?
• Do I need a Web site Privacy Policy?
• Do I want to limit how visitors use my Web site?
• Do I “refer” visitors to other sites by linking? Do I need the consent of the other site to do so?
• Can others link to my site, and if so, under what conditions?
• Do I make any product or service claims in my Web site?
• Do the FTC or other regulatory agencies monitor Web site claims?
• When my Web site is live and running, what else must I do to maintain the site?
• Does anyone claim trademark rights to my Domain Name?
• Do I want or need to do anything to protect the rights and contents of my Web site?

If you do not know the answer to these questions, or if your answer indicates that you may have a problem, contact CorpLaw. We are here to help you work through these issues.

We at CorpLaw are here to assist you with these and other important issues. Contact CorpLaw for help with your E-commerce legal needs. We want to help you run a successful Web site and E-commerce venture.

For a copy of our E-Commerce Services Offering in .pdf format, please click E-Commerce Legal Services.