You may be proud of your website and its functionality, but have you considered the legal and security issues around websites?
These range from IP ownership to e-commerce requirements, with many issues in between. In this article, we review some of the key points to be considered around websites and making sure they are legal.
Intellectual Property
Let’s start at the bottom. Do you own your website and its content? You will only be the owner if you have a copyright assignment from and signed by the independent designer, unless you are fortunate enough to employ an in-house designer. Subject to any agreement to the contrary, if an employee is employed to design and create a website and its content in the course of his or her employment, you will on the copyright.
If you do need to obtain an assignment, it would be sensible to cover copyright and database rights, covering any compilations of statistical or other data in the website.
You should also seek an IP indemnity from the designer, to protect you in case any part of the website design or content has been copied from a third party, which would risk a claim against you for IP infringement.
A related issue is registration of the domain name for the website. Are you the registrant of the domain name, as opposed to the service provider who obtained it for you? If not, it can be difficult to persuade the service provider to transfer the registration to you.
Cyber security
As the recent issues with the PHP programming language have demonstrated, it is vitally important that regular checks are made for website vulnerabilities which expose you to cyber attacks and any patches are applied as soon as possible. Unfortunately the development and use of AI is likely to make issues like those found with PHP more common.
Data Protection and Privacy
If you collect personal data from visitors to your website (which you may do even if you do not have a sign-in process), you will have obligations under data protection law, at the point of data collection. As well as terms of use, you will need a privacy policy (available on each website page), explaining such issues as how and why you collect personal data and what you do with it. If the website uses cookies, you will also need an ICO compliant cookie policy.
E-commerce
On-line traders will need to comply with the rules regarding distance selling and e-commerce, as well as complying with consumer protection law.
Accessibility
In Great Britain, it is unlawful for a service provider to do anything in the provision of a service which would discriminate against a disabled person. At the design stage, you will need to consider with the designer, what reasonably adjustment can be made to make your website accessible to a disabled person.
Please be aware that this article is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the legal issues and you should take legal advice on your website.
For further information please contact Peter James or find out more information on how our Commercial team can assist your business.