Protect Yourself With A Site Use Agreement
http://www.lawsays.net/articles/3040/1/Protect-Yourself-With-A-Site-Use-Agreement/Page1.html
Jane Dawson
Source verified importers and wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors, dropshippers and dropshipping wholesale suppliers. Browse wholesale by country: Wholesale UK, Wholesale China and more. By Jane Dawson
Published on 07/17/2009
In this article we discuss the importance of having a site user agreement on your site, and how to lay it out to limit your website's liability.
Unfortunately, as online retailers move their marketing techniques further and further into the realm of strong interaction with their customers, their legal liability for what happens on their site becomes more complicated.
If you allow site users to post materials on your site in a chat room, on a blog, or as part of customer reviews, you need to take some special precautions in terms of dealing with that material. Even though you may not be the generator of all the content on your site, you are ultimately responsible for everything that resides there.
Problems that can occur
There are several kinds of problems that can occur when other people are posting on your site.
- Copyright infringement
It is not at all uncommon for someone to post something on a site that they have copied from another site. That is copyright infringement and you can be held liable for the damages.
- In a free flowing environment, people may say things that could constitute defamation of another person or website. Once again, the responsibility flows back to you as the owner.
- Customer reviews can also be a tricky area if the customer makes untrue negative claims about another product.
- There is new regulation underway that makes it unlawful for a blogger to promote a product on a site if the blogger is being in any way compensated and does not disclose that relationship.
How do you keep yourself from getting into problems like these? Your first line of defense is the establishment of a strong site use agreement.
Site Use Agreements
A site use policy helps you limit liability by putting out in writing the rules for using your site. An agreement might cover:
- Underage user. You may want to be careful about allowing underage users on your site. There are often special rules for their protection. Plus, even if an underage user agrees to your site use policy, they may not be legally old enough to enter into a contract. You can work through this issue by requiring a declaration of age and a parents approval.
- International restrictions. Some countries place restrictions on interactions with some countries where there are trade embargoes or when the country is assumed to sponsor terrorist activity. Syria is an example. Cuba has also had limitations placed on them by the U.S. but some of those restrictions are lifting.
- Site prohibitions against profanity, sexual content, slanderous material, material that may infringe copyright and so on.
- Copyright protection of your own materials.
- Privacy such as not sharing passwords.
- Truthfulness in providing information when purchasing, agreeing to purchase when obligated by actions and so on.
- Limits of liability for posted materials, defects in products, implied liability under the Uniform Commercial Code and so on.
- Indemnification for you or your site against any actions resulting from a users actions.
Site use agreements are very common these days. Make sure your site has one. Search in Google for sample user agreements to get a head start.
If you allow site users to post materials on your site in a chat room, on a blog, or as part of customer reviews, you need to take some special precautions in terms of dealing with that material. Even though you may not be the generator of all the content on your site, you are ultimately responsible for everything that resides there.
Problems that can occur
There are several kinds of problems that can occur when other people are posting on your site.
- Copyright infringement
It is not at all uncommon for someone to post something on a site that they have copied from another site. That is copyright infringement and you can be held liable for the damages.
- In a free flowing environment, people may say things that could constitute defamation of another person or website. Once again, the responsibility flows back to you as the owner.
- Customer reviews can also be a tricky area if the customer makes untrue negative claims about another product.
- There is new regulation underway that makes it unlawful for a blogger to promote a product on a site if the blogger is being in any way compensated and does not disclose that relationship.
How do you keep yourself from getting into problems like these? Your first line of defense is the establishment of a strong site use agreement.
Site Use Agreements
A site use policy helps you limit liability by putting out in writing the rules for using your site. An agreement might cover:
- Underage user. You may want to be careful about allowing underage users on your site. There are often special rules for their protection. Plus, even if an underage user agrees to your site use policy, they may not be legally old enough to enter into a contract. You can work through this issue by requiring a declaration of age and a parents approval.
- International restrictions. Some countries place restrictions on interactions with some countries where there are trade embargoes or when the country is assumed to sponsor terrorist activity. Syria is an example. Cuba has also had limitations placed on them by the U.S. but some of those restrictions are lifting.
- Site prohibitions against profanity, sexual content, slanderous material, material that may infringe copyright and so on.
- Copyright protection of your own materials.
- Privacy such as not sharing passwords.
- Truthfulness in providing information when purchasing, agreeing to purchase when obligated by actions and so on.
- Limits of liability for posted materials, defects in products, implied liability under the Uniform Commercial Code and so on.
- Indemnification for you or your site against any actions resulting from a users actions.
Site use agreements are very common these days. Make sure your site has one. Search in Google for sample user agreements to get a head start.