Small Business Builder: Protecting Internet Rights
— -- Sometimes the law seems designed to irk the innocent.
Take the harmless singing of "Happy Birthday to You" to restaurant patrons. Most establishments now serenade with something other than the traditional song, lest the copyright owner sue.
And how about McDonald's? The giant burger joint has successfully challenged small companies that used "Mc" in their business names, from McAllan's sausage stand in Denmark to Elizabeth McCaughey's McCoffee shop in California.
Then, of course, there's Verizon, the company formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged. On the Internet, Verizon registered not only as www.verizon.com but almost every imaginable variation and promptly challenged every perceived infringement. Finally, the story goes, the big company was outwitted by whoever registered the domain VerizonShouldSpendMoreTimeFixingItsNetworkandLessMoneyonLawyers.com.
Watch Your Back Online
Play it safe, protect yourself, and get a lawyer, advises Harvey Jacobs, managing director of the Rockville, Md.-based law firm Jacobs & Associates, which operates www.internet-law-firm.com.
"Once the business plan has been fairly well developed, the attorney can be a valued member of any business owner's team, along with a CPA and a marketing-and-PR person," says Jacobs.
Online companies are easy prey and legally vulnerable. "Doing business online can subject a small-business owner to being haled before a court in every jurisdiction able to access its Web site," warns Jacobs, who specializes in Internet law. He recommends having an Internet lawyer "prepare a privacy policy, terms of use, disclaimers, and appropriate copyright notices to be displayed on the Web site."
Surprisingly, online businesses don't always know who owns their Web site names, content and intellectual-property rights, Jacobs says. In fact, "not taking the time to firmly establish legal ownership of Web assets" is the biggest mistake he sees online companies make. Jacobs offers this advice:
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