Woolley & Co E-Zine October 2005

Tips and ideas for keeping your business on the right side of the law

Welcome to the October E-zine. This month we welcome Stuart McIntosh to the Woolley & Co team and there are also some words of warning for business owners on limiting their liability.

We welcome your feedback - if there is any particular legal issue you'd like to see covered send the details through to marketing@business-lawfirm.co.uk or if you have a question for one of our lawyers you can Ask A Lawyer on our website.

Andrew Woolley
Andrew Woolley, Senior Partner, Woolley & Co

Commercial Team Expands
	October sees Stuart McIntosh join the Woolley & Co business law team. Stuart is an experienced company and commercial solicitor providing advice and support to SMEs on all aspects of on and off-line trading, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts and partnership agreements and acting on behalf of companies who are buying and selling parts or all of a business. Stuart joins us from a Black Country firm of solicitors where he has acted for many types of business, from traditional manufacturing companies to new technology companies. Before becoming a lawyer Stuart spent 18 years in the police force – so you could say he’s seen the law from the sharp end.

Divorced from your Business?

It is a sad fact that more than 30% of marriages fail these days and, according to the Government, this percentage is slowly increasing.

If you are a business owner, you are doubly vulnerable if things go wrong. Not only will the trauma and upset of a divorce pull your focus away from running your business, which is bad enough, but your business will also be thrown into the ‘pot’ along with all the other matrimonial assets, to be divided up by the Court. This is especially true if you are a sole trader.

If you are a partnership, or a company, you have a measure of protection. There are steps you can take to make your business less vulnerable, but it is no good taking them once a divorce is imminent. The Judge will simply set aside any protective measures you have taken, on the grounds that they were taken with the sole purpose of avoiding the process of the court.

If you own a business and are worried about a failing relationship talk in complete confidence to one of our specialist family and divorce lawyers (more...)

Website Copying

We have been asked recently whether it is legally acceptable to copy certain things from websites. We have also often come across examples of people copying sections from other people’s websites, whole pages and indeed whole sites! And people aren’t averse apparently to copying the legal sections – privacy policies and terms and conditions.

So, what are the rules?
In this short note, we’ll only look at copyright. (For more on copyright)

Everything on a website will be the copyright of someone, the creator. Some people will, and they make this clear on the site, let you copy the contents freely. Some will charge you a licence fee but most will be very, very upset if you copy their hard earned knowledge.

I’ve heard lots of theories from business people that if they make sufficient changes then "that’s ok". Don’t rely on that for one moment.

Many people, including lawyers, put very hard to spot deliberate mistakes in their documents (software developers often put in redundant code) and if you are found out you are likely to face a major damages claim, an injunction, high legal costs, very bad publicity and arguably worst of all a possible criminal prosecution.

It isn’t worth the risk. If you want to copy, ask and get any affirmative answer in writing.

And, if tempted to copy things like legal wording from someone else’s site, bear in mind that they may have also copied it and slightly changed it, this could have occurred 5, 6 or more times so the end result is a complete mess which gives no protection at all.

For advice on protecting your website content contact Woolley & Co on 01789 267377 or email Stuart.McIntosh@business-lawfirm.co.uk.

To find out more about these and other legal issues visit the Woolley & Co website at www.business-lawfirm.co.uk. The site also contains articles and back copies of our E-zine – which might be a useful place to start if you have a legal problem you need help with.

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

This E-Zine is mailed to subscribers monthly. If it has been sent to you in error we apologise. Click here if you wish to unsubscribe.

REMINDER: Legal Issues Business Owners Miss, at their Peril
Limiting liability – before it limits you!

If you do not (legally) limit your liability for the work you do, then your liability is totally unlimited (more details here).

If you have in your contract or terms of business “we will not be liable for any damage caused” or similar words that is illegally excluding some liabilities you are not allowed (in the UK) to exclude and the whole clause is likely to be ignored – which means unlimited liability again.

So, please check your terms of business—you do have them don’t you? And also check you are insured, fully, for any work you do and might soon do. Otherwise, paint your house; it’s soon going to be sold from under you.

Management Consultants and other people who advise businesses are especially at risk as many do not have the (these days quite poor) protection of a limited liability company around them. Why are they especially at risk? Because every time they advise a business they may be wrong even if they do their best. If they are wrong they may well lose many hundreds of thousands of pounds, so some advice given at a fee of, say, Ł250 can cause a claim of Ł1 million.

Woolley & Co can provide terms of business that deal with these issues for small business consultant firms at a fee of Ł350 + Vat until the end of October.