Website design: key legal issues

Website design: key legal issues

Regardless of business sector, due to the digital age we live in, most businesses now have a website.

The contents can range from a brief overview of the services which a business provides to a complete platform for customers to buy and sell goods.

Whether you are setting up a new website or maintaining an existing one, you need to understand your obligations and the impact of this undertaking.

In addition to style, functionality and regulatory issues, it is also important to consider the intellectual property rights which may exist in the website, and to understand the potential for your website to infringe on another’s intellectual property rights.

If you are engaging a web designer, can you be sure that all of the material used in your website is original and not the property of another business or retained by the designer at completion?

Joe Creasor, solicitor in the Company Commercial team at Wake Smith looks at the issues that can arise.

This article covers:

• What are the requirements of a website ‘host’?
• What are the data protection considerations when hosting a website?
• Intellectual property rights in web design.
• Website terms and conditions of use.
• Your next move?

What are the requirements of a website ‘host’?

If your business operates, or hosts, a website there are certain legal requirements you must comply with.

All website operators must ensure that the name of the service provider; its office address; and any other necessary contact details are provided. Contact details, such as the service provider’s email address are required to ensure “direct” and “effective” communication.

Additionally, if your business provides a service that is subject to Value Added Tax, you will be required to list your VAT number.

For businesses who operate as a company, you are required to make the following information available on its website:

• the Company number and/or details of any other register in which the company is listed;
• the name under which the company is registered (if different to you company’s trading name);
• the registered office address, illustrating in which party of the UK the company is registered;
• if the company holds exemption from containing the words “Limited” or “Ltd” in its name, the fact that it is a limited company;
• if a company is a public interest company, whether it is a public or private company; and
• if the company is an investment company, the fact that it is an investment company.

In addition, if your commercial organisation turns over more than £36m per annum you will be required to publish a modern slavery and human trafficking statement for each year. A link to the statement must be made available in a prominent place on the company’s wesite home page. 

What are the data protection considerations when hosting a website?

The United Kingdom Data Protection legislation states that an IP address and a users ‘cookies’ constitute personal data.

Therefore, if either of these pieces of information or any other personal data is used in any way, including simply storing this information you are deemed to be processing data.

Almost every website will, for the purpose of data protection legislation be deemed as processing data and should have a privacy policy available to users.

Intellectual property rights in web design.

Copyright laws apply to the content of websites in the same way as to other designs and written materials.

If you have engaged a designer to create your website, you will need to ask them for their written guarantee that the site does not breach anyone else’s rights and ensure that the copyright and any other intellectual property rights are assigned to you in writing.

Careful consideration of the designer’s terms and conditions are needed otherwise you could find you are required to pay the designer every time you want to make a change to your site, even if your original contract has come to an end.

IP can be found not just in the content and design of the website, but also its functionality.

 

Website terms and conditions of use.

It is sensible to ensure that your business has a copy of up-to-date terms and conditions for the use and access of your website.

These terms and conditions will vary depending on what your website is used for and how much traffic it generates. However, the following terms should routinely be considered:

• Contact information: as mentioned above, there is a requirement to make contact information available, it may be sensible to contain this within your websites terms of use.
• Are third parties authorised to provide links to your website? Although you may permit a third party linking your website, it is prudent to ensure you set out the basis this is allowed. Alternatively, you may look to produce a linking licence which licences the use of links to your website if there are certain intellectual property rights which could be exploited.
• Password sharing: if your website contains log in details, it is usual to have a clause confirming that passwords should not be shared as to minimise the risk of internet fraud.
• Data protection (although this may be a stand alone privacy policy).

Your next move?

For further information on these issues please contact Joe Creasor at Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 224 2188 or email [email protected]

Find out more about our Company Commercial law services

Published 27/10/2023