The Law & the Internetsor

The things I've learned in law school that scare me at my day job

Who am I?

Chris Stoll15 years experienceMusic PublishingVideo PublishingGraphicsWebsite DesignLegal/History nerd

How do I copyright this logo or music release? If I promote the music now, can people steal it?

My manager says the label name needs a trademark on the cd spine. why?

I paid this photographer $50 for the website photo. Can he come after me later if we sell 50,000?

what if my client won't pay on time? or owes me money?

what if I have a reasonable dispute over terms and a client sues me?

WHAT IF I KILL MY CLIENT

WTF is the LAW?

● strives to be a meaningful collection of all known solutions to problems that occur when opposing human interests collide

● philosophy, logic, "fairness"

● more ancient forms of human reasoning, mythology and theology

● the rules we have to live by if we don't wanna get sued or thrown in jail.

Why should a web pro care?

● Business issues like Intellectual Property, Transactions

● Personal issues○ Privacy, Likeness, Speech Rights - Your Work, Your

Trade Identity, etc.

● Societal issues○ Standards that ease responsible coding○ Accessibility, safety, privacy

● <blink>Code has Consequences!</blink>

Long history of legal interactions○ Not problems - "interactions" - opposing human

interests collided in a new way, so a solution had to be found through legal process

● 100% real where real stuff really happens○ Not virtual anymore - there is no physical analog to

facebook, not even standing in a room talking.○ No previous collision is similar enough to provide a

template for the solution - hence lawsuits

● A separate country, and its own Internet

LAWSUITS!!!(court paperwork would be freindlier in comic sans)

Introducing our tour guide, Facebook

Intellectual Property

● A constitutional recommendation to protect creativity

● Trademark:○ Brand Protection: Teachbook, Faceporn○ Facebook v. Teachbook - Similarity, Confusion○ Don't spin off existing brands - be original!

● Copyright:○ Content protection: using photos, original content

in unauthorized ways○ Miller v. Facebook - Code v. Content, Performance

v. Distribution○ Don't use that image! not even for a second!

Contracts & Transactions● A contract is a transaction is an agreement is a

promise (sort of)

● Agreements:○ Pending litigation re: cookie use after logging out○ Breach of contract?○ In re Facebook PPC Advertising

■ click fraud, breach of contract, etc■ Defendant's own conduct - invalid clicks that

cost money○ In your code, are you careful to make sure that it

only does what you say it will do?○ Security, e-commerce, subscriptions, etc.

It's what you do not what you write or say

but written K is best evidence so

write/say what you mean to do - do what you said

Personal Issues

● Privacy○ Misappropriation of Likeness - Cohen v. Facebook○ Defamation/false light - Goldsmith v. Facebook etc○ Invasion - Maguire, Simon v. Facebook

● Free speech○ The web is a historically free forum○ One person's story is another person's privacy

violation, or reputation damage, etc.○ A collision of human Interests!○ Students suspended - people fired - etc.

Societal Issues

● Accessibility○ Surprisingly no - but JetBlue, Southwest, etc. Is it

a place of public accomodation - ADA issue○ Thought experiment -

● Bettering the web & facing the future○ Encouraging development and use of standards that

encourage and ease compliance○ Privacy, accessibility, contract signing, copyright

protection, etc can and will eventually be improved and eased by standards and automated solutions that are widely adopted - how will they work?

The Future?W3C Standards? or new Laws? Standards always work better than laws:<contract action="affirm" method="post"... /> <term required non-negotiable>Blah..</term> <term negotiable>Blah blah... </term> <signature /></contract>Imagine a browser that understands this "form on steroid"... proper warnings, repeating signature, checking next to each term to indicate reading, etc... could be browser-standard. And that's just contracts!