Cyber Law & Operating Your Small Business Text Size:

Doing business over the Internet, which is commonly referred to as "e-business" or "e-commerce," can be very lucrative. With a Web site, you're able to advertise and sell your goods to customers across the globe. But, of course, there are some risks involved, and often there are legal and practical issues that you need to consider when taking your business online.

Cyber law is a term used to describe the various types of laws, rules and regulations that control how things are done over the Internet, including business operations, such as buying and selling goods and services, which is commonly called "e-business" or "e-commerce." But, even if your business doesn't have a Web site, the Internet and cyber laws can have a big impact on your business operations.

Your Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a blanket term that covers:

• Copyrights, which are original works of authorship that are fixed in any tangible medium of expression, such as print, like a book, or digital form, such as an article published online
• Patents, which are inventions, that is, some new a machine, process, or product
• Trademarks, which are words, names or symbols that both identify goods made or sold and distinguishes them from goods made or sold by others

A large body of federal law protects your intellectual property rights, and that protection extends to cyber space. Generally, no one can use your intellectual property without your permission (and vice versa). Typically, you'd sell a license to someone else that gives them the right to use your intellectual property.

If your business has a Web site, you need to make sure that any intellectual property you have on the site is properly identified so that your rights in the property are protected. If you don't have a Web site but you store such information on computers, make sure your computer system has adequate security to stop hackers and others from gaining access to it.

Who Will Run Your Site and Where

You can either develop and operate a company Web site in-house or hire a third party to do one or both of those things. If you hire someone to develop your site, you need to consider things like:

• Who has the final say regarding the Web page layout and design?
• When will the Web site be ready?
• How will you make sure the developer doesn't use or disclose any confidential information he sees while making or operating your site?

If you can't operate the site on your own computers and you're thinking of using a "Web hosting" service- a company that will rent you space on their computer server so that your site can be accessed on the Internet- then you need to consider things like:

• The speed of access to your site by customers, as well as reliability of their servers, that is, how much "down time" do they typically experience
• Security measures taken by the hosting service
• If the service can change or alter your Web site without your approval

E-mail Messages

Even if you don't have a Web site, the odds are that you have computers and you and your employees use e-mail. As an employer, it's extremely important to control the use of e-mail in your business. You should have a policy regarding its use, and it should be made clear to employees that:

• You have the complete and total ability to control the use of all company-owned computers
• Employees have no privacy rights with respect to communications involving company e-mail and that you have the right at all times to monitor and inspect such e-mail messages

Customers and Computers

Regardless of whether you have a Web site, it's a good bet that your customers have a computer and use it to shop and compare. There are a number of "complaint" or "review" Web sites where customers rate various goods and companies and often complain about their short-comings. As a practical matter, it's a good idea for you to monitor those sites to identify your company's strengths and weaknesses.

In addition, by monitoring such sites, you might discover that someone is using your trade name or trademark without permission, or maybe writing things about your company or product that are untrue or inaccurate and hurt your business. Such things can give rise to the right to file a lawsuit and get money damages from the offender or maybe a court order directing them to stop their activities or conduct.

Also, many customers check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) before doing business with any company. Naturally, it's a good idea to be a member of your local BBB as it fosters trust and reliability in your company and products. BBB reviews of businesses indicate that a business owner failed to respond to BBB inquiries, either for general information about the business or regarding a consumer's specific complaint. The lack of response could deter potential customers from doing business with you. Also, if you have a Web site and you qualify, you can use the BBB "seal" or trustmark on your Web site, which gives customers instant notification of your good standing with the BBB.

Questions for Your Attorney

• Can a Web hosting service post links to my competitors' Web sites on my Web site without my permission?
• Some customers are confusing my product with some other company's product when they're complaining on a certain Web site. Can I do anything as against the Web site? What about the competitor?
• The developer I hired to make my Web site claims that she owns all the computer codes, graphics, and the overall design, and so, she says, I can't have an employee change my Web site around a little bit without buying her out. Can she do that?

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