Website Contracts

The web is a crowded marketplace, with nearly two billion potential customers just a click away, but the competition is immense. To stand out you need to distinguish yourself from a crowd of innovators, imitators, and hobbyists. But developing a niche offering is only the first step.

Once you have a great idea, and the backing and motivation to commercialise it online, you need to find someone to help you build your web presence. So, you turn to a web designer, but wait:

What about eye catching graphics?

You need your site to stand out, and grab the attention of your visitors, so perhaps you need to enlist the help of a graphic designer to create your logo and provide artwork.

What about functionality?

If your website collects information, includes an online shop, or gives visitors access to useful tools you need the help of a web developer to write the software behind it.

What about your legal obligations?

Regulations mean that your site needs to be accessible to those with disabilities, and you must carefully control access to any information you process. You will also need to consider how to protect your intellectual property. So, you need a lawyer to help you draft a privacy policy, and terms of use.

What’s more, before spending money on professional help you need a firm idea of your requirements, and carefully written agreements so that they don’t leave you with a huge bill for a half-baked website.

Getting it right first time is extremely important to the success of a website, especially when your marketing efforts are set to coincide with its launch.  Unfortunately the right advice can be expensive and hard to come by.

We have considerable expertise in his area, and are able to assist in a number of ways:

• Advising on the ownership of website content, software, and designs
• Resolving disputes in connection with IP rights subsisting in a website, or breaches of contract
• Advising on the implications of using open source or proprietary software, for example a closed-source content management system
• Reviewing, drafting or negotiating the terms of contracts for the commissioning of a website

What Next?

If you need legal work please call us on +44 (0)20 7700 1414 or if you prefer send us an enquiry using the form below. Depending on your requirements we may suggest a free meeting. This is often the best way to assess whether we would be the right firm for you, and to understand the work involved, your priorities, attitude to risk, and desired timescales.