We practice "digital law" (see About Us), otherwise known as Internet law or cyberlaw (see What is cyberlaw?). The latter is a subset of "digital law." That said, Internet law is certainly a central focus of what we do. It is just not all that we do. Digital law encompasses legal issues that are grounded in the digital economy but not necessarily bounded by the Internet (e.g. drafting and review of complex technology contracts that control the delivery of products and services).
Our privacy practices focuses on helping clients mitigate legal liability when their businesses require the collection, utilization, or distribution of information about individuals, especially when it comes to personally identifiable information (PII). Emerging privacy legislation and more aggressive enforcement regimes are creating challenges for online businesses and for health care providers and vendors. We work with clients to ensure compliance with applicable law and to ensure that the appropriate business processes are in place to support and underpin their policies and procedures. Data breaches of PII garner worldwide media attention and expose businesses to intense government scrutiny and private litigation. Our privacy practice assists clients with the development of best practices that protect consumer loyalty and business good will.
Our copyright practice handles application and registration, infringement actions (with local co-counsel), rapid response letters and Internet copyright investigations. Our knowledge of software, Internet business models and the associated legal issues that encompass them, enable us to effectively counsel and litigate on behalf of our clients. In addition, we also draft and review contracts and licensing agreements that have copyright provisions as a core component. Finally, we provide copyright best practices training for businesses of all sizes (see our fixed fee packaged service Managing Intellectual Property and Digital Assets). To learn more about U.S. copyright law see our Copyright Tutorial.
Our trademarks practice is focused on helping our clients establish and maintain their online brands. We handle Internet trademark issues related to domains, cybersquatting, spam, advertising, rapid response letters and infringement. In addition, we also offer a fixed fee search and registration packaged service (see U.S. Trademark Search & Registration). For an online business, there is almost nothing more important than protecting the brand, once you have fought hard to establish it. To learn more about U.S. trademark law see our Trademarks Tutorial.
Our Internet domains practice focuses on helping clients with domain name issues that fall outside the purview of trademark doctrine. Many domain name legal issues (e.g. cybersquatting) are really trademark dispute issues and that is why they are included above. Others, however, are specific to the acquisition, sale or licensing of either one (or a few) domain names, or an entire portfolio. You should consider domain names as a kind of property that requires protection (e.g. from hijacking). Clients are often careless with respect to this valuable property. We work with clients to ensure that the necessary (and often low cost) steps are taken at the onset to prevent what can amount to devastating problems later. We also assist with various domain name related buy/sell transactions. To learn more about Internet domain name legal issues see our Trademarks Tutorial.
Contract law is as foundational to online business as it is to business in general. Our contracts practice helps clients manage the numerous contractual issues that underpin much of what they do from an online business perspective. A website's terms of use agreement is one example. Certain sites have more exposure to third party liability and are therefore more at risk. In general, e-commerce sites and specific kinds of providers fall into this category. The issues here are many, including whether or not there has been mutual assent to the terms of the contract. A subsequent issue is often triggered when these terms change. Our fixed fee packaged service Website Audit is designed to help mitigate the risks associated with a client's online presence, at an accessible price point. However, a website terms of use agreement is just one of many contractual issues that an online entrepreneur faces depending on the nature of the business.
We help clients with the following kinds of agreements:
The list above is not exhaustive. There are many types of contractual issues that, depending on the complexity of the business; a client may need our expertise in resolving. Often clients find contracts with service providers daunting to deal with because of the dense technical jargon that is often included. We work with clients to ensure that they get the benefit of the bargain and bring clarity to the obfuscation that is often present.