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| INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE INTERNET The explosion of the internet has created a host of opportunities for entrepreneurs. It has also created a number of legal issues which individuals involved in e-commerce activities should be aware of. Meta tag infringement One form of trade mark infringement which has taken place on the internet is meta tag abuse. A meta tag is basically HTML coding that contains information about the material that the user sees, as opposed to what the user actually sees on his or her screen. The most common use of the meta tag is to provide information about the site for the benefit of some search engines, particularly the keywords to be used by these search engines. Putting a competitor's trade names and trademarks in your web-site's meta tag key words is generally regarded as an act constituting trademark infringement. This area is relatively new however the cases have been taken, most notably by Playboy which argued successfully that businesses which had inserted the word Playboy in their meta tags intended that a search for 'Playboy' would bring a web surfer to their site instead of the Playboy site. Domain names A domain name is not an intellectual property right known to Turks & Caicos law. However, based upon developments in the UK in relation to a practice known as cybersquatting (see below) it is likely that Courts will apply the common law principles of passing off and trade marks to tackle domain name infringement. Therefore, it is always advisable to include all brands and any variations of such brands in domain name registrations. You can obtain a ".tc" (Turks & Caicos top level domain) name at http://www.register.com Contact us if you have any questions or require assistance in this respect - our secretarial staff will be happy to assist with the registration of domain names for a small processing fee. It should be stressed that obtaining registration of a domain name is not equivalent to registering a trademark or service mark for your business - in many instances entrepreneurs would do well to consider registering their domain names and any related logos as trademarks. Cybersquatting Registering a domain name in the hope that someone else will want it badly enough to buy it off you is known as Cybersquatting. An interesting case recently involved Julia Roberts who succeeded in winning back the domain-name JuliaRoberts.com. WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) is the UN intergovernmental organization having oversight of industrial property and copyright, headquartered in Geneva and is the regulatory body that oversees domain name registration. It is clear therefore that if your brand is part of your domain name, your domain name may be protected by the laws of trade marks or passing off. The US has actually passed legislation to deal with this issue, namely the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Trademark Cyberpiracy Prevention Act. Typosquatting Typosquatters register domain names that are nearly identical to the actual domain names used by other businesses. The slight differences between the domain names are intended to catch internet users who make typographical or punctuation errors when entering a domain name (e.g. www.yuhoo.com - which is/was the domain name for a classified advertisement site). Concurrent use The situation is very different where the company which has registered the domain name first has a right to legitimately use the domain name because of their own company name or trade mark. As a general rule, if your name does not infringe a trade mark in the off-line world, it is unlikely to infringe a trade mark in the on-line world. Ownership and protection of the content of your web site The text, design, graphics and layout of your web site and any music, broadcasts, software and images on your web site will not be protected by the laws of passing off or trade marks. In most jurisdictions this would be protected by copyright (we are reserving comment in relation to the Turks & Caicos). If you are concerned to protect you website content in the Turks & Caicos you should contact a firm of attorneys to advise you on the point. Hypertext links A hypertext link links one web site to another web site. It is not clear whether linking from one web site to another web site might constitute infringement copyright and in any event this should be considered on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis. To minimize the likelihood of creating a dispute you should obtain permission from the owner of a web site before linking to it, particularly if you are not linking to the home/index page and are accessing specific information. If your site is developed by another party, your web development agreement should clarify that links should not be added by the developer without your consultation - to give you the opportunity to seek permission from the other site. There is a possibility that a business owner not taking these steps could become vicariously liable for the unauthorized actions of the web developer. Framing Framing allows a web site to be displayed in a smaller window on another web site. Although there has been no reported decision on this point, it is feasible that if someone frames a web site without the consent of the web site owner then that person may be liable for copyright infringement by publishing the work. Again, you can play safe by seeking permission from the owner of another site. Downloading and distributing software Software sold on the web site is often sold on a "try before you buy" basis. It is therefore easy to download the software and distribute it. We anticipate that in most jurisdictions this type of unauthorized activity might constitute copy right infringement. Conclusions Any business presently or considering trading on the internet needs to check what intellectual property rights it owns and ensure that they are fully protected. Business owners also need to have a general awareness of the new legal considerations which are arising as a direct result of this powerful new medium and should where feasible, seek legal input and advices from a firm with an understanding of the area whenever they are unsure where they stand on a point.
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