Welcome to Woolley & Co

Woolley & Co E-Zine

Keeping You Up To Date With Changes That Affect Your Business

Welcome to the July issue of our E-zine. This month we provide tips and advice for anyone selling on line, collecting data and those who write for websites too. If you need advice on any of these issues call me on 01789 267377.

We welcome your feedback – if there is any particular legal issue you’d like to see covered send the details through to marketing@e-lawfirm.co.uk.

Andrew Woolley

Andrew Woolley, Principal, Woolley & Co

Protecting Copyright

We’re often approached by small businesses and sole traders who say to us:

“I’ve written copy for a website - what do I have to do to get copyright in it?”
The answer, you might be surprised to hear, is nothing! Copyright does not need to be (in fact cannot be) registered. It “belongs” to the original creator and can only be transferred in writing.

Copyright is a right not to have the work copied. So, if someone takes your work and doesn’t pay you’re entitled to it back and they are in big trouble!

Whilst you don’t need to state anything about it to have and keep the copyright in something as some people believe you do, it might be best to include a copyright warning in careful language to deter copiers. We’ll send you a suggested warning if you e-mail aw@e-lawfirm.co.uk TIP: to get the © sign, press”Ctrl”, “alt” and “c” simultaneously. Click here for a more detailed look at copyright.

Taking Money On-line – why you might avoid credit cards

In the US Courts some on-line retailers are suing credit card companies who, they believe, wrongfully allow charge backs and credits on cards used on-line. Indeed, due to the fees they charge when they take these actions, credit card companies actually benefit from fraudulent transactions!

The position in the UK is somewhat unclear but basically, under the Consumer Credit Act, credit card companies can be held responsible by the customer for poor or non-performance by the merchant and they can be required to make credits (“charge backs”) against the bills. The retailers’ only defence is to show that the (cardholder not present) transaction was indeed definitely made by the person who holds the card which is very hard to prove. Using other, smaller, businesses to take payments is often cheaper and, if a specialist on-line payment business is sued, often safer for the business. Our advice is don’t just look at standard credit cards - there are other means of taking money over the web. We can put you in touch with on-line providers.

Cyber Piracy

Unfortunately the instance of cyber piracy – where someone sees a site they like, copies it or parts of it under their name and sets up in opposition – is on the increase. The pirate’s seem to think they can hide via the anonymity of the web. Apart from being a clear breach of copyright, it is likely to land them with a “passing off” action and being taken down by their ISP.

We have recently acted for a company whose site was copied in this way. The people involved even copied the legal terms and conditions supplied by Woolley & Co. Their site was swiftly taken down with a public apology and payment of damages and our client’s legal costs agreed. Our advice is - act fast if this happens to you but don’t bother to sue anybody who has no money.

Distance Selling

The OFT are starting to get very interested in websites which do not comply with the regulations on Distance Selling. Remember a consumer has 7 days to return, at your expense, an item without any reason for a full refund (and 6 months if you don’t give them the correct information that they can return in 7 days!) Note: this also applies to telephone sales.
For more details visit our website and read our ‘Making a Contract on the Web’ article.

No Accidents with Personal Data

An example of how carefully regulators are looking at compliance with data protection regulations is shown by the fact that Accident Books have to be changed. They shortly have to be designed so that personal details of someone who has had an accident (such as their name) cannot be seen by the next person and so on. It was otherwise ruled to be a breach of the Data Protection rules! You need to keep up to date with the rules - our e-zine can help.

Next month there will be news about unsolicited email and protecting your innovative ideas.

To find out more about these and other legal issues visit the Woolley & Co website at www.e-lawfirm.co.uk.

The Woolley & Co E-Zine is sent monthly to subscribers. Feel free to pass on to friends and colleagues. To subscribe, click here.

This E-Zine is mailed to subscribers monthly. If it has been sent to you in error we apologise, if you wish to unsubscribe to the Woolley & Co E-Zine click here.