LEGAL INSIGHTS AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNET LAW & ONLINE BUSINESS

At the beginning of the month, online affiliate marketplace, Clickbank, changed its promotional guidelines. Over the past several months, the FTC has aggressively pursued online companies suspected of violating various Internet standards established by the commission. Acai berry weight loss and PayDay loan websites were the hardest hit and several online operators were court ordered to pay out millions of dollars in fines.
So, to avoid any legal battle with the FTC and other regulatory agencies, ClickBank executives decided to make affiliate marketing guidelines a bit more FTC-friendly.
Deceptive Marketing And The Internet
While deceptive marketing has long been a civil crime in [...]

It’s past the debate stage: the Internet was a business game-changer. Advancements in technology have forever altered the way we communicate and consume. Some companies and industries have adjusted to keep up with the 21st century technology model; others have fallen by the wayside. And as e-commerce rose, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers experienced the pinch they put on hundreds of mom-and-pop stores when they waltzed into town decades earlier.
Accustomed to being the big dogs, corporations like Wal-Mart and Barnes and Noble didn’t take kindly to suffering sales. After all, slow sales meant country club executives couldn’t collect multi-million dollar [...]

Dear Gov. Brewer and Arizona State Legislators:
As you are aware, your counterparts in California approved and enacted their new state budget on June 29, 2011. Contained in the bill is specific language that is geared toward generating more revenue for California by imposing a nexus tax on online retailers that lack physical presence in California.
Lawmakers in Sacramento project that such a tax wouldgenerate an estimated $200 million in additional revenue to offset California’s budget cuts. As a matter of fact, this piece of legislation won’t achieve its desired effect. State revenue won’t increase as a result of AB 28 1x. [...]

1) Make sure you have a written business plan that outlines your goals, timeframe, funding sources, contingency plans, whether Cost Per Action (CPA) advertising is based on click, impression, or sale.
2) Form an Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a C-Corp that elects subchapter S status.
3) For those involved with affiliate marketing, consider placing disclaimers before links to other advertisers sites for whom you have no direct relationship with or are unsure of the product being marketed.
4) Ensure that you receive the full benefits of copyright protection by placing a statement like “© of XYZ”, with your name or company name in place of [...]