Cyberlaw
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Marketers must confront many legal issues in todays society in order to create a successful business. Many marketing elements are within their control however, they must also deal with their competitions marketing strategies and new technologies. Marketers are also quickly leaving their television, print, and radio ads to the way of the future: the Internet. Businesses both local, regional, and national have quickly embraced the Internet as an inexpensive means of advertising to reach a much larger target audience. The Internet has become the one of the most effective ways advertise, and sell goods and services.
The Internet is simply be defined as: “a worldwide network of computers that allows individual and business users around the world to share information and other resources and to conduct business transactions” (Discovering the Internet). Although this opens up a world of possibilities for those in the Marketing profession, they must also be careful in following what is now known as “Cyberlaw.” Cyberlaw is defined as: “encompassing all the cases, statutes, and constitutional provisions that impact the persons and institutions that control the entry, and provide access to cyberspace. Those who create the hardware and software which enable people to access cyberspace, or to use their own computers to go “online” and enter cyberspace (UCLA Online Institute)”.
The difficulty with many in the Marketing professional is that most if not all of these persons, are not trained in the law, or simply do not consider legal implications of their actions. As Marketers enter the new frontier of on-line marketing, there are many “Cyberlaws” that they must adhere to in areas such as domain names, trademarks copyrights, jurisdiction, security, and ethics, to name a few.
Every website that a marketer creates must use a domain name for access. This makes the process of searching the World Wide Web for a site more user-friendly. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigns each website a numeric Internet Protocol (IP) address. These numbers are then are converted into plain English when viewed through a search engine such as Excite or Yahoo!. For most companies their domain name is also their company name such as www.mcdonalds.com or www.eddiebauer.com. For the company to be the most successful it is important for the domain name to be as similar to the trade name as possible (University of NSW, Law Journal). This makes the merchants website that much easier for a consumer to access.
When marketing a company online there is a similarity between a trademark and a domain name. A trademark is also known as “a word, name, or symbol used in commerce to distinguish ones product and its source from other businesses and their products” (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, and Kahan). A domain name acts as the companys on-line trademark. The biggest and most common problem with domain names is that domain names are allocated on a first come-first served basis, and not according to who holds the trademark. Therefore, any individual could register the name www.mcdonalds.com before McDonalds. In as case like that, McDonalds would have to purchase the domain name from the individual, usually for a hefty price that is, if the individual is willing to sell it all.
The competition between businesses has led to many marketers infringing on others trademarks and registered domain names. Domain name laws very slightly on the Internet. For example, two companies that provide different services can use the same trademark in the regular business world, but could not use the same domain name on the Internet. The Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1996 has helped to clarify the line between trademarks and domain names (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, and Kahan). The act states that it: “protects famous trademarks from uses by others that cause dilution of the distinctive quality of the mark even when no consumer confusion–the touchstone of traditional trademark law–is likely because the marks are used for dissimilar products or services” (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, and Kahan). The act however only protects famous trademarks. To ensure maximum protection before beginning to market on-line marketers must always research what is a protected domain name and/or trademark.
There are some simple marketing solutions however. The first is to register the domain name as a trademark, since trademark disputes usually occur because someone wants to exploit the company. Since the trademark usually comes before the domain name, the company can register both at the same time (University of NSW, Law Journal).
Copyright laws are another huge factor that marketers need to keep in mind. A copyright is defined as “creations capable of being fixed in a tangible medium” (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, & Kahan). Nowadays the most focused on issue is the copyright of computer software. Almost since its inception, the courts have been battling over Internet copyright laws and how to apply them to the ever-growing World Wide Web. An example of a new copyright law can be as simple as downloading a program onto a computer. This applies to marketers more closely when dealing with creating web pages. They must be very careful not to place any copyrighted text, graphics, audio, or images on their companys website. While it is extremely easy to download and use any file from the Internet, it is still possible to be caught. Even with the millions of websites out there, this can result in criminal as well as civil liability charges. In order to avoid these difficulties do not use “multimedia” unless through research has been done ensuring that the material is in fact public domain. Another way to go about using copyrighted material is to ask the web master or company permission to use their “multimedia” material for your commercial use.
With the increasing amount of e-commerce everyday online, consumers have more and more questions about the security of their information before, during, and even after their purchase transaction has been completed. Most, if not all websites contain messages to consumers regarding the safety and privacy of their online transaction on a particular website. Companies generally use whats commonly known as a firewall program between local area networks to provide security to their consumers. A firewall is a security system that uses hardware and/or software to protect their computer and consumers information from intruders (Discovering the Internet).
Another major issue that a marketer must focus on when dealing with the Internet is jurisdiction. A marketer must not only understand the international nature of the Internet, but should