Do you have an internet-based business? Even if you facilitate the purchase and delivery of products or services entirely online, you are still running a business with all of the legal advantages and pitfalls that entails. Many e-commerce operations face unique legal challenges, which Rincker Law can help you solve.
Contract Negotiation & Management
Every e-commerce business relies on relationships with other companies and service providers. Whether for website development and design, hosting, scheduling, payment processing, advertising, or a host of other services, you likely have contracts in place to govern your relationships with these providers. To protect their business, e-commerce business owners need to understand the contents of those contracts.
Cybersecurity & Privacy Policy
If your website is collecting personal information from users, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that you are taking appropriate steps to protect your users private information. Privacy laws at the state, federal, and even international levels can be a challenge to know and abide by. Make sure you’ve got an appropriate privacy policy in place, have technical safeguards in place to protect user data, and understand your legal and ethical obligations in the unfortunate event of a data breach.
Copyright
Do you allow users to post content on your website? If so, you will want to make sure that you are availing yourself of the protection of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. This can provide you with a safe-harbor if your users post copyrighted material, but your site must have a DMCA policy and you must follow DMCA protocols.
Taxation & Trade Laws
In recent years, more and more states and localities are requiring e-commerce platforms collect sales-tax for delivery of goods and services. In addition, if you are selling products or services across international borders, you may be subject to federal trade laws on physical exports and digital products. Business owners need to understand their obligations for international trade and whether they need to collect sales tax.
Terms of Use & Sale
Whether selling a good or service, your business needs terms in place to govern the relationship between the e-commerce site and website users and/or customers. This may include the terms of payment, refunds, warranties, and dispute resolution procedures. Owners need to have terms of use and terms of sale for their e-commerce business, which should be reviewed by an attorney to ensure that they are enforceable and protect the business.
Rincker Law can help you craft the legal backbone of your e-commerce business by helping you with issues involving contracts, cybersecurity, privacy policies, copyright, taxation, international trade, website terms of use, and terms of sale. Give us a call today.