The purpose of these Open Source Software Compliance Guidelines (Guidelines) is to provide guidance in the development of procedures designed to verify compliance with the license requirements of various open source software applications and code (OSS) used internally or included in products for distribution. Technology lawyers, advisors and consultants need to be aware of issues surrounding open source software in order to properly advise their clients.
Website Legal Compliance - Congress Struggles With Protect Ip And Sopa Legislation By: Chip Cooper | - Website legal compliance is now under serious consideration by lawmakers in Washington. The U.S. Congress is now considering two proposed bills, which if enacted into law, would provide ground-breaking weapons for law enforcement and content owners to enforce intellectual property rights. If you're a content owner that provides content on the Internet, you have an important stake in the current legislative process.
However, if you're a SaaS or Internet marketer, your best-laid plans for 2012 may hit the skids if you fail to avoid new website legal compliance gotcha's that emerged in 2011.
So, It's highly recommended that you add to your personal resolutions the requirement to review the checklist of critical developments and related gotcha's in these 2 categories: privacy and Internet marketing.
The Website Legal Regulation Tsunami Continues - Are You Above Water? By: Chip Cooper | - Surfers know that the waves come in periodic sets which are separated by relative lulls. Beginning in 2009, there's been a tsunami of new and complex legal regulations for websites that also seems to be coming in sets.
We're now in a temporary lull, but the next set is on the horizon, and rapidly heading our way. If you're an Internet marketer or operate a SaaS business, now is a good time to quickly review the following checklist of the set just passed, as well as the set that's fa ... Tags:website legal documents, Chip Cooper
4 Critical Reasons Why You Should Review Your Privacy Policy Right Now By: Chip Cooper | - A periodic review of your privacy policy is always a good idea, given the significant increase in privacy regulations beginning in 2009. However, at least four developments in the last six months provide an impetus for an immediate privacy policy review. Do it now to avoid significant legal exposure.
Reason No. 1 - Preliminary FTC Staff Report"
Last December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its Proposed Framework For Businesses And Policymakers. In it, the FTC ... Tags:website legal compliance
Ftc's Settlement With Google Provides Game Changing Internet Privacy Regulations By: Chip Cooper | - You've certainly heard about Google's highly promoted BUZZ service which is designed to compete directly with Twitter by offering much of Twitter's basic functionality with a Facebook-like platform including location data integrated into Gmail. What you may not have heard is that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently made BUZZ the poster child for the FTC's effort to show that the old tried and true privacy protection methodology is now not enough.
The Commercial Privacy Bill Of Rights Act Of 2011- What Does It Mean For Ecommerce Websites? By: Chip Cooper | - On April 12, 2011, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and John McCain (R-Ariz) announced proposed legislation that could become the first federal privacy and data security law. If passed into law, The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights will have a huge impact on how personal information is collected, used, and shared by eCommerce websites. And penalties for failure to comply could be high, very high.
The Ftc Begins Crackdown On Behavioral Ads - Is Your Site In The Cross Hairs? By: Chip Cooper | - On March 14, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its first behavioral advertising settlement. If your website collects behavioral data or serves behavioral ads - either directly or indirectly through the use of behavioral ad vendors - you need to understand and comply with the FTC's notice and choice principles, or suffer the consequences.
Easy Soft has been a legal software leader since 1986. The company offers specialized solutions for real estate, family law, time, billing & trust account management and document automation . Easy Soft, LLC is located at 212 North Center Drive in North Brunswick NJ 08902 . More than 15,000 customers nationwide use Easy Soft products to increase office productivity. The company designs, develops legal software products. Customers include thousands of small to mid- ... Tags:Legal software, Legal billing software
Ftc's "do Not Track" Initiative Portends Major Impact On Online Advertising By: Chip Cooper | - The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) publication earlier this month of a proposed framework for protecting online privacy portends a major impact on online advertising. If your website's business model depends on advertising revenue, either directly from the site itself or via a smart, mobile device, you have a big stake in the outcome of the dialogue kicked off by the FTC report.
Unfulfilled promises by blog site personnel to remove objectionable materials from blogs continue to create headaches - and increased legal exposure - for blog site operators. A recent case involving craigslist.org teaches a critical lesson for blog site operators: be very careful what you and your personnel promise; be very, very careful.
3 Can-spam Gotcha's That Every Email Marketer Should Avoid By: Chip Cooper | - Experienced email marketers often operate under the misconception that the CAN-SPAM Act doesn't apply to most routine business communications. With CAN-SPAM Act fines of up to $16,000 per violation, this misconception could add up to a big number.
That's why email marketers should avoid 3 gotcha's that are CAN-SPAM traps for the unwary.
Credit Card Regulations? What Regulations? By: Charlotte Mooney | - Back in January I wrote a story, 'New Year, New Regulations' on the subject of anticipated legislation to tighten consumer credit regulation in the UK. What with all the excitement of a new government, the World Cup, and some real summer weather at long last, here in the UK at least the vexed issue of Credit Card Regulation seems to have taken a back seat. We are still waiting for the first move from our new coalition government on this front. I don't know what David Cameron and Nick Clegg do ... Tags:Credit Card, Plastic Card, Legal Compliance, Regulations, Credit Card Act 2009, David Cameron, SEPA, plastic card
The Federal Trade Commission's recent settlement with Reverb Communications is the FTC's first case targeting deceptive advertising on the Internet since the FTC Guides were announced late in 2009.
If you use online endorsements or testimonials from others, you should review your internal marketing policies and your FTC website forms to avoid substantial liability for deceptive advertising.
The use of Flash cookies capable of re-installing browser tracking cookies - that users have previously deleted - has triggered the filing of multiple privacy lawsuits against some of the Web's largest media companies. At issue is a user's fundamental right to control how their tracking information is harvested and shared.
Membership programs that incorporate a recurring billing model - where customers' credit cards are charged periodically - have been under intense scrutiny by Congress and various courts.
In a recent opinion affirming the enforceability of an of an online contract for recurring billing, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals analyzed the facts and applicable law for two critical requirements for enforceability.
Strategies For Managing Pharmaceutical Workforce And Site Reductions: Analysis Of Legal, Productivit By: Visionshopsters | - In 2007, due to the impending patent cliff and the consequent need to cut costs, big pharma began for the first time to outsource chemical API manufacturing to China and India. Prior to this only generic drug companies had manufactured in the two countries. Since then, big pharma has been undergoing waves of layoffs that have been accelerated by the economic downturn, with manufacturing and sales being particularly affected, and outsourcing levels in R&D and manufacturing are expected to increas ... Tags:Strategies, Managing, Pharmaceutical, Workforce, Site, Reductions, Analysis, legal, productivity, quality, control, issues, market research, market re
Researchers and marketers alike are now capturing and downloading Tweets from Twitter's database. Privacy activists argue privacy concerns. Researchers, marketers, and Twitter users all want to know - is Twitter harvesting legal?
Online start-ups are faced with the daunting task of selecting a domain name that will withstand legal challenges.
There's a general belief among online start-ups that a trademark owner will always trump a domain name registrant with the same or confusingly similar domain name. That's not always the result... as two recent 2010 UDRP decisions point out.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a "safe harbor" from strict liability for copyright infringement to online service providers that satisfy its requirements.
A June, 2010 ruling by a U.S. District Court in New York in favor of YouTube established an important precedent for blog sites for avoiding strict liability for copyright infringement by blog posters.
Cmo Compliance And Firstline Join Forces To Provide The World's Most Complete And Integrated Audit By: CMO COMPLIANCE: Audit, Risk & Compliance Software | - CMO COMPLIANCE, the world's leading provider of audit, risk, compliance and QEHS management software solutions and Firstline, the oil
industry inspection consultants, today announced a strategic partnership to provide global oil production and drilling companies with the most
complete and integrated audit & inspection solution on the market.
In June, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled charges that Twitter's micro-blogging site had engaged in lax security practices that amounted to "unfair and deceptive trade practices".
While previous cases brought by the FTC for lax security procedures focused on lax electronic controls, the Twitter case focused on lax administrative controls. Webmasters of SaaS and ecommerce sites who fail to learn and apply the critical les ... Tags:Website Legal Forms, Website Legal Forms Generator, SaaS Agreement, SaaS Agreement Form
The new behavioral ad icon will begin to appear on website ads soon. Whether or not it satisfies the concerns of online consumers and governmental regulators should matter a great deal to all webmasters.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), acting with several other organizations, recently announced the release of an icon to appear in online ads and Web pages. The new icon - a blue square with a lowercase "i" in a circle - is inten ... Tags:Website Legal Forms, Website Legal Forms Generator, SaaS Agreement, SaaS Agreement Form
On May 19, 2010, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee released proposed legislation - the "Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act" - aimed at regulating sites that transmit or receive consumer data for post-transaction sales and sites that sell products or services with recurring charges.
Courts continue to hold that online SaaS agreements, where the user clicks through on an I ACCEPT button during the online registration process, are legally enforceable... if the agreement is presented correctly.
Two recent cases deal with the issue of contracting authority. In these cases, the users' employees clicked through on the I ACCEPT button, and the online agreements were presented correctly, but the users later claimed that ... Tags:Website Legal Forms, Website Legal Forms Generato, SaaS Agreement, SaaS Agreement Form
It didn't take the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) long to show Internet advertisers and blogger-endorsers that they mean business regarding the FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR, Part 255) that went into effect in December, 2009.
The U.S. Congress will soon be voting on two separate bills, which if they become law will certainly increase the burden on webmasters for website legal compliance, including new disclosures and website legal forms.
"Success story" testimonials have long been a staple for advertisers with their website legal forms. "I lost 12 pounds in my first month, " and "In 3 short months I was taking in over $5,000 per month on my website..." are typical examples.
Website privacy and data security violations continue to be the most critical legal concern for webmasters of software-as-a-service (SaaS) websites and ecommerce websites.
Just think about it - most marketing practices involve capturing data, including personal information about prospects, and using this data to market products or services.
Website legal contracts, website legal forms, and website documents as positioning statements for marketing purposes? You've got to be kidding, right?
That's the typical reply I get when I advise clients regarding website legal compliance. They're aware of the critical need to manage their legal exposure, particularly after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides went into effect on December 1, 2009.
Ada Compliance Is Necessary By: Lenny Samuel. | - When you're looking to get the best parking lot striping done for your money, there are several different features that you need to include. It's important that you have all the different angles covered including asphalt repair and seal coating, but there are some other important aspects that you can't overlook if you want your parking lot to remain legal.
We all make New Year's resolutions - some are personal, some are business or professional in nature. Even if we don't actually make New Year's resolutions, we engage in formal and informal "planning" as we look ahead to the new year.
If you operate a website, you're probably aware that your website operations are now highly regulated. And the pace of legal regulations continues to accelerate.
There's been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about the 81-page Guides for the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Most of the debate and discussion has centered on the rules (and potential liability) facing bloggers who write testimonials and endorsements.
If you've already read - and clearly understand - the 81-page Guides for the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising issued by the FTC on October 5, 2009, then read no further.
In recognition of the increasing influence of social media online, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on October 5, 2009, for the first time since 1980, issued new regulations governing online testimonials and endorsements by bloggers.
Does your website incorporate a blog, forum, or listserv -- where users may post text or files? If so, are you liable if your users post defamatory materials about someone else?
I'm often asked questions about SaaS (Software as a Service) agreements. What I have to prompt SaaS webmasters to ask is - "Is my SaaS agreement the only website legal document I need?"
To most Saas site webmasters, the answer may be surprising.
The law of online contracting has become fairly well settled. This is good news for SaaS sites with online agreements such as Membership Agreements, Subscription Agreements, Content License Agreements, and the like.
Online contracting with click-wrapped agreements -- where the user indicates agreement by clicking on I ACCEPT -- will usually result in an enforceable contract if 5 simple rules are followed:
Safire's New Political Dictionary defines "hot-button" as follows: word or issue that ignites anger, fear, enthusiasm, or other passionate response.
Safire's definition fits two Internet advertising issues - behavioral and keyword ads - perfectly. Two developments in the first few months of 2009 show how these hot-button issues are developing, and how they may ultimately impact Internet advertising in a fundamental way.
It's well settled that website click-wrapped agreements presented on SaaS (Software as a Service) websites and ecommerce sites are enforceable against the clicker -- but what about users who access someone else's account without clicking to agree -- are they bound also?
The answer is critical to SaaS websites and ecommerce seeking to create binding agreements.
On March 20, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its latest guidelines for the Red Flags Rule entitled "Fighting Fraud with Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business". These guidelines significantly broadened the scope of the applicability of the Red Flags Rule.
If you've been following legal developments on the Web in the last couple of years, you know that there is significant concern regarding privacy and data security. This concern is driven by consumers' fears over identity theft.
The Life Is Good Case - 5 Data Security Safeguards
What's Behind Google's Requirement For Adsense Users To Modify Privacy Policies? By: Chip Cooper | - In early March 2009, Google notified users of its new AdSense option, "interest-based advertising". With this announcement, Google also stated that "your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising".
What's behind this announcement, what is "interest-based" advertising, and what modifications may be required for your privacy policy if you use this advertising option?
Online businesses are now highly regulated, and there's substantial liability if you site's not legally compliant. In addition, your customers are becoming more Internet savvy, and a site that's not legally compliant is not going to be trusted.
