Top Ten Issues in E-commerce
...here may be a benefit to forming a Delaware "C" corporation or limited liability company to satisfy investors. 3. Domain name registration Search Network Solutions Inc., the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the applicable secretary of state office to determine whether a name is available. Use a professional search firm, covering state and federal registrations, common law (unregistered) usage and URL registrations. Register the domain name (plus derivatives, and under the various domains of .com, .net, .org, .cc, etc.), register the domain name as a federal trademark and reserve the trademark name with the secretary of state. A registered trademark holder may challenge a domain name covering its trademark. 4. Ownership of intellectual property The Web provides access to volumes of information and makes commercial exploitation of products, logos and slogans easier. Once a product or company name hits the market, it has brand name, brand recognition and an associated monetary value. Protect anything that is instrumental to your business. Generally speaking, copyrights protect an expression of an idea, such as text, artwork and software. Patents protect processes and compositions, methods (including methods of doing business), software and articles of manufacture. Trademarks protect any word, term, name, symbol or device used to designate the source or origin of goods or services. 5. Privacy Many Web sites post privacy policies to inform a visitor how certain data may be collected and used based upon their visit to the site. Polices should be drafted in a "click through" fashion, so a visitor must consent to the terms (by clicking on the "accept" button) before gaining access to a site. Information about consumers accumulated as a result of their visits to a Web site and their purchases online has value to third parties. 6. Confidentiality Any business needs to keep confidential any information that goes to the heart of its operations. Identify trade secrets, which may include codes, strategies, customer lists, formulae, manufacturing methods and e-commerce methods. Have employees and consultants with access to confidential information execute a confidentiality agreement. Access to confidential information should be restricted to those who require it to do their jobs. 7. Stock options Stock options can be used to attract and retain qualified employees and consultants. Remember that stock options are securities and must comply with applicable federal and state securities regulations. In addition, the gran...