Legal Issues

The diversity of the web presents challenging new legal constraints and issues including domain name allocation, ownership rights to content, contracting with designers, accessibility for users with disabilities, distance selling, data protection and privacy & legal jurisdictions.

Domain Name Allocation

In the cyber world, there can be only one instance of any given domain name. The general rule as to who gains use of the name is first come first served. There are, however, important legal aspects to consider.

Cyber-squatting'Cyber-squatting' is the act of having registered a domain name speculatively for monetary gain only. Particularly during the "dot.com boom", there were several high profile cases where one individual or organisation registered domain names relating to other, well-known individuals or organisations - the motivation was to require a payment in future to release the name.
Generally, arbitrators took the view that the well-known individual or organisation had a right to the related domain name and access was granted - partly because the original registrant would not be able to use the name, as this would amount to passing off.
However, new organisations are given no prior rights to a domain. If the required domain has been previously registered, the organisation may gain ownership by payment to the registrant.

Intellectual Property

The design and content of a web site - relating to ideas, designs and know-how - are called "intellectual property" (IP). These can be realised in words, graphics, pictures, animation, video and sound.
Protection of IPIntellectual property rights (IPR) reside with either the designer or another defined owner of the web site, and can be protected by four different mechanisms:
» Copyrighting
» Trade Marks
» Design Rights
» Patenting

Web Site Owners & Designers

If they are not part of the same organisation then the relationship between a website owner and designer should be defined legally in a suitable contract. This contract should define both the expectations of the owner and ownership of the intellectual property.
Defining the owner’s expectations in advance with a contract avoids possible litigation after a web site designer has completed his/her work. Defining intellectual property rights (IPR) ensures clear ownership of the rights to the web site design and content.

Disabled User Access

Access for disabled users is a legal necessity for some websites e.g. Intranets for company employees or sites of public organisations.
In general, access can be provided either by designing all pages to be accessible or by providing equivalent pages for disabled users. However, in practice it may be impossible to provide ideal web access for all users immediately. In such cases, graded accessibility should be practised.

Distance Selling

Websites and e-commerce are one means of distance selling, which, in the UK, is governed by European Union regulations.
Regulations cover various issues:
» Consumer must be provided with appropriate information about the goods or services
» Confirmation of order should be provided by "some durable medium" e.g. e-mail
» Order can be cancelled within seven working days

Data Protection

Any organisation keeping personal information about individuals must register under the Data Protection Act and satisfy its requirements.
Click here to read more about the Data Protection Act.