Everything You Need To Know When Doing Business Online

This section will tell you everything you need to know to do business online and use computers in your business. Your first reaction is prob­ ably that it's impossible to fit all that in one chapter. Well, you're right, but humor me while I cram in as much as I can. To keep it interesting, I'll start this in the form of a quiz so you can test your own knowledge.

Copyrights
True or false? The Internet is the public domain and when you publish something on the Net, you lose your copyright. The answer is false.
This is just one of those misconceptions that seem to have a life of their own. Intellectual property laws, including copyright and trade­ mark laws, apply as much online as offline. The Net is just not the lawless Wild West, so please get the idea out of your head.

Libel
True or false? If you post a libelous statement on a website, you can't be sued for libel. The answer is false.

This second item is yet another example of a popular misconception. Call someone a thief on the Internet or in a magazine and you have the same result-you'll be sued-unless, of course, the person is a thief. After all, online and offline, truth is an absolute defense to libel.

Contracting Online
True or false? If you put a link on your site that says "Terms and Conditions of Website Use" and it links to a contract that governs use of your site, the contract is enforceable although the web surfer never read it. The answer is true.

Well, it is a true or false test, so I have to say that it's more true than not. However, this is still the suhject of some controversy. Though I think most courts would agree that it's true, some courts may not agree.

Be cautious with this. Although I think that you're more likely to have a winner than a loser on this point, don't lose sight of the fact that this is a statistical game. To illustrate my point, I state that I may have been perfectly correct when I told you that there was a 10 percent chance of rain; if it rained on your picnic, I was completely wrong. My point is that you should get some good legal advice on your method of online contracting. After all, it is a complex area.

Faxed Signatures
True or false? You can't enter into a contract with a faxed signature be­ cause a fax is not" a writing," but rather is nothing more than a series of beeps and chirps. The answer is false.

On this "beeps and chirps" issue I have to comment that I don't have enough imagination to come up with the idea that a fax isn't a writing because it's-well-created by beeps and chirps. For this deeply analytical thinking, we need a judge from Georgia. Without further comment by me, a mere mortal, I will let the judge speak for himself:

"It may also be added that a facsimile transmission does not satisfy the statutory requirement that notice be 'given in writing.' Such a transmission is an audio signal via a telephone line containing information from which a writing may be accurately duplicated, but the transmission of beeps and chirps along a telephone line. is not a writing, as that term is customarily used. Indeed, the facsimile transmission may be created, transmitted, received, stored and read without a writing, in the conventional sense, or hard copy in the technical vernacular, having ever been created."

You just have to wonder about someone who thinks "hard copy" is "technical vernacular." I should just stop here because I'm not sure

On a serious note, I think that this court completely missed the mark with its decision. People commonly use faxes to form contracts and I think that this procedure is generally fine. Still, in an abundance of caution, there is still something nice about receiving the original signature the next day from your favorite overnight delivery company.

Long-Distance Courtroom
True or false? Your website could give a court in a far away state or country the power to hear a case against your company. The answer is true.
Being hauled into a far away court can be extremely expensive to your company and stressful for you. You're more likely to run into a problem here if your website takes orders from distant places than if your website is really nothing more than an online brochure. Still, you should consult with your tech lawyer about how to deal with the laws of distant places. Some of the recommendations might include having different websites for different countries to help ensure compliance with their local laws, and creating a user agreement that requires web surfers to litigate any disputes in your local courthouse, not theirs.

That's it. Now you know everything you need to know. Maybe not, but this was a good start and I bet you learned something.