There is a lot of work and creativity needed to build a website. There is a big effort needs to be made to manage it successfully day-by-day. If you own a website you know what I am talking about. I insisted in my previous posts that a website is an intellectual property with a great value and it needs to be protected. Moreover, this protection is worthwhile when we make it even before we actually started building a website.

Consider website developing agreement between you and developer. Think about it, there are so many parts of the creation. Who will own the rights? The particular description of the project to be developed, payment provisions, ownership and warranties are integral parts of a website development agreement. Since the developer is being paid to create the website by the client, it doesn’t mean that the client will automatically own all rights. In case there isn’t a written agreement, a client will get ownership of the website, while a developer will have a copyright on his creation. Written agreements can provide two options: absolute ownership by the client of all created digital content; and ownership by developer of his creation, which will be non-exclusively licensed to the client.

Nevertheless, in addition to a digital content’s ownership, there needs to be a determination of the ownership of developer tools like HTML code, Java code, Java applets, search engines, and toolbars for operating websites and moving between pages.

Website credits and links, site hosting, domain name and developer representations, and warranties should be carefully examined. Since a developer can state his name on the website, place a hyperlink on a client’s site to developer site, and inversely from his site to client’s site as an example of his work, client should exercise careful approach in choice of a developer. His name and reputation can be critical for client’s business.

Obviously, the main part of the developing agreement is a confidentiality of provided information. The developer should keep it in secret and express reasonable care to prevent the unauthorized use confidential information. The approach is very simple: level of care should be the same if developer needs to protect his own confidential information. But seems in case of developer-independent contractor it is hard to ensure, because of the developer’s independent status and entrepreneur nature.

The conclusion is, when you have an agreement between you and developer things are clear as to the rights to the owner. After all, you want to know who has royalty rights! If things are complicated it is better to discuss them before the agreement is signed. Undoubtedly, it is worth to consult an appropriate professional to avoid any misunderstanding in the future.

How many of Internet users read Terms of Use and Disclaimer sections on the web pages they visit? Is anybody concerned about protection of individuals and companies from the uncertainties and abuses surrounding the use of online communications methods and the use of digital content?

Protection of digital content and fair use of online communication are one of the controversial topics in e-commerce law. On the one hand, some lawyers consider drafting techniques based on statues and case law sufficiently protect users of digital content from infringement of rights of others.

This group of lawyers argues that sufficient protection is more appropriate approach because all rights of intellectual property may be enforced in a court. For this reason, users of digital content and online communication should rely on existing law and drafting techniques, and obey the rules. One the other hand, other lawyers claim that current legal tools that prevent infringement of digital content are not sufficiently developed for the proper protection.

Proponents of this approach argue that drafting techniques, statues and current case law have significant limitations with respect of relationships between owners and users of digital content including all kinds of third parties. They believe that those limitations/uncertainties encourage owners of digital content to maximize the level of protection. Because a digital content protection’s performance is evaluated on the basis of absolutely clear balance of rights and responsibilities, owners of digital content try to eliminate any uncertainties in this balance.

Current law and legal provisions to protect rights of others

There are two main forms of intellectual property used in online communication: software and websites. With regard to content of online communication, “text, music, movies, photographs, artwork, inventions, processes, product names, and confidential business information” would be also qualified for intellectual property protection, which digitized and implemented in specific online communication. All this in addition to computer software and HTML code and similar forms of code is a “website” and used in online communication.

Trade secret law, copyright law, patent law and trademark law govern protection of digital content

A trade secret is confidential information that provides competitive advantage to its owner in a market place. It can be information of production or business process, marketing or business plan, list of clients, advertising campaign plan. Such information needs to be protected from competitors and companies make their maximum effort to keep it in secret. An example of trade secret is Coca-Cola receipt or formula, to say so.

Copyright provides to the owner of product of human intellect, particularly software or website, exclusive right to control how this product is used. This control includes making copies, distributing them to the public, making derivative works, and performing the work.

A patent is a grant of “monopoly for a limited period of time on the use and development of an invention” which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office qualify for its protection. To obtain a patent it is necessary to file an application with an explanation why the invention is original, with detailed description of the invention and its aspects, with all drawings, statements and filing fee.

A trademark is “a distinctive word, phrase, logo, graphic symbol, or other device” and uses “to identify the source of a product and to distinguish a manufacturer’s or merchant’s products from anyone else’s”.

No one is completely effective and has some limitations. Trade secret protection is limited by physical ability to keep the information from competitors. Copyright provides a protection for expression of the idea and not for idea itself. Patent has a complicated and costly procedure and doesn’t provide complete protection for disclosed information of the invention. Trademark provides all the protection which trade secret, copyright and patent don’t, but limited by its specific purpose. Therefore, digital content protection would be more effective when all of those legal tools used in combination covering their limitations.

Bottom line, intellectual property owners should implement special techniques for protection of digital content in online communications. In other words, there is a need for intellectual property plan. It’s consists primarily of using forms and procedures to identify, establish ownership, and protect the developer’s intellectual property.