Alasdair Taylor, Author at SEQ Legal - Page 13 of 14

One of the many legal risks facing you as a web publisher comes from the law of libel: as publisher, you may be liable not only for your own writings, but also for the defamatory comments that users make on your website. Identifying defamatory posts How can you identify whether a particular post is defamatory […]

Website content theft is a common problem. Quality content can take a lot of time and effort (or money) to create – and it can be stolen in seconds by a child with a computer and a internet connection. Legal proceedings are the ultimate weapon, the nuclear option, in your armoury against website content theft. […]

Database right is similar to copyright, but distinct. Both database right and copyright may subsist in a single database quite independently. However, this note is concerned exclusively with the protection afforded to websites by database right, not copyright. In the UK, the key piece of legislation is the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. […]

The centrepiece of UK data protection law is the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”). This legislation was enacted pursuant to a European Directive. Data protection law governs the “processing” of “personal data”. “Processing” is defined in the Act to mean: “… obtaining, recording or holding the information or data or carrying out any operation […]

This brief FAQ contains answers to some of questions I get asked on a daily basis relating to website terms. What is the difference between T&Cs, terms of use, and disclaimers? In the context of websites, these are different names for often similar – and sometimes identical – documents. “T&Cs” or “terms and conditions” may […]

One of the oddities of ICANN’s Rules for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution is that they require the complainant to affirm, in the complaint, that a copy of the complaint has been sent to the domain name holder (Rule 3(b)(xii)). In theory, this requirement could give a fast-moving domain name holder the chance to transfer […]

Clients usually think that joint ownership of copyright is a good thing; lawyers (in the UK at least) usually think that it is a bad thing. Why? A number of old English cases (e.g. Lauri v Renad in 1892, Powell v Head in 1879) established that a joint owner will not be allowed to exploit […]

When you take a photograph, you own the rights in it, don’t you? Yes. And no. The person who takes a photograph will usually be the first owner of the copyright in the photograph (unless that person is an employee acting in the course of his or her employment). However, there are other rights to […]

Trade mark infringement is a trump card when it comes to domain name choice. No matter how many good reasons you have for choosing a particular domain name, if the domain name infringes someone else’s trade mark, you should steer well clear. Why? First and perhaps foremost, trade mark infringement proceedings can swallow an immense […]

Many websites are inherently risky; indeed, some of the web’s most famous sites are built upon technologies and business models which test the boundaries of the law. Examples include eBay which, despite a vigorous IP enforcement programme, has over the years facilitated a massive online trade in pirated products; and YouTube, which still hosts huge […]