E-Commerce Law

The Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce develops and recommends efficient, flexible, and equitable policies, principles, and practices for business-to-business and business-to-consumer electronic commerce. This subcommittee is actively engaged in projects directly and through three working groups: the Consumer Protection Working Group, the Working Group on Transferability of Electronic Assets, and the Electronic Contracting Practices Working Group.

The Internet is connecting advertisers and marketers to customers from Boston to Bali with text, interactive graphics, video and audio. If you're thinking about advertising on the Internet, remember that many of the same rules that apply to other forms of advertising apply to electronic marketing. These rules and guidelines protect businesses and consumers - and help maintain the credibility of the Internet as an advertising medium. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has prepared this guide to give you an overview of some of the laws it enforces.

The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 USC §1125(D) "was intended to prevent 'cybersquatting,' an expression that has come to mean the bad faith, abusive registration and use of the distinctive trademarks of others as Internet domain names, with the intent to profit from the goodwill associated with those trademarks." [1] The ACPA renders one liable to the owner of a trademark who, with "a bad faith intent to profit from that mark," "registers, traffics in or uses a domain name" that is either identical or confusingly similar to a "distinctive" mark or is identical, confusingly similar or dilutive of a "famous mark."

The primary goal of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule is to give parents control over what information is collected from their children online and how such information may be used.

On June 30, 2000 President Clinton signed the "Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act" (ESIGN) using his electronic signature ID, and thereby established the validity of electronic signatures for interstate and international commerce.

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, or e-business consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.

The Electronic Commerce Working Group (ECWG) of the Department of Justice consists of lawyers from throughout the Department who are in regular contact to discuss legal issues related to electronic commerce. The ECWG provides a convenient vehicle for Justice Department attorneys to disseminate information quickly regarding electronic commerce developments.

Some marketers send email as a quick and cheap way to promote their goods and services. Be aware that the claims that you make in any advertisement for your products or services, including those sent by email, must be truthful. This means that you must honor any promises you make to remove consumers from email mailing lists. If your email solicitations claim that consumers can opt-out of receiving future messages by following your removal instructions, such as "click here to unsubscribe" or "reply for removal," then the removal options must function as you claim. That means any hyperlinks in the email message must be active and the unsubscribe process must work.

The Internet’s global reach has made possible a cost-effective means for marketing products and services overseas. Companies that establish a corporate web site, which publicizes their products and services, provides an electronic mechanism for safe and secure electronic transactions, features order tracking, and lists products’ technical specifications can easily apply electronic commerce to international marketing.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the primary federal agency regulating e-commerce activities, including use of commercial e-mails, online advertising and consumer privacy. FTC's E-Commerce Guide provides an overview of e-commerce rules and regulations.

Consumers around the world are increasingly turning to their computers to buy a wide array of goods and services. And because the World Wide Web is, as its name implies, worldwide, businesses that sell online can potentially reach billions of customers in every country of the world. Even small "mom-&n-pop" companies with websites are attracting a client base never before possible. Many are discovering just how international the Internet really is, processing orders not only from the next town or state, but from the next continent, too.

Rules and regulations for conducting e-commerce apply mainly to online retailers and other business that perform consumer transactions by collecting customer data. However, even if you do not sell anything online, laws covering digital rights and online advertising may still apply to you.

The Internet is the fastest growing source of mail order sales. It's estimated that consumers spent $200 billion on Internet-based goods and services in 2008. The explosive growth in the goods and services sold online has in the past, taken many online sellers by surprise: demand has outpaced supply, depleting inventories and disappointing customers. The Federal Trade Commission is advising online merchants to review their obligations under the Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule to better serve their customers.

BBB’s mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust. BBB accomplishes this mission by: * Creating a community of trustworthy businesses * Setting standards for marketplace trust * Encouraging and supporting best practices * Celebrating marketplace role models, and; * Denouncing substandard marketplace behavior.

The Global E-Commerce Council (GECC) is a central platform for global coordination and networking in play when doing business in the New Online Economy. With expert task forces, online educational training, legal consulting services, and annual global summits, GECC offers an open forum to identify and develop e-commerce best practices and strategies on an international level. In this next generation of global online trade, legal issues are emerging as a specialized field in need of experts. Consequently, the Global E-Commerce Council represents a knowledge community of corporate and government specialists who are actively shaping the future of Internet and E-commerce laws and regulation, from both a regional and international perspective.

The Privacy Coalition is a nonpartisan coalition of consumer, civil liberties, educational, family, library, labor, and technology organizations that have agreed to the Privacy Pledge.

Going online and taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer may require that you disclose personal information. Whether you're new to the Net, or consider yourself savvy in the ways of the Web, you may have concerns about how personal information is collected, what choices you have about how it is used and shared, and under what circumstances you can access it..

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Use these steps as a guide to creating your website and marketing your company overseas using the internet and key service providers.

Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Business and Industry including: agency and distributorship, agency law, business and industry, business formation, business law, commercial law, contracts, corporate governance, corporate law, e-commerce, food and beverages law, franchising, industrial and manufacturing, joint ventures, legal economics, marketing law, mergers and acquisitions, offshore services, privatization law, retail, shareholders rights and utilities.