The Legal Bandwidth You Need for E-Commerce
If you are contemplating E-Commerce, you know that you need to move fast. Whether you are pursuing an entirely web-based venture or adding a web component to an existing business, McCandlish Holton can help you achieve digital success.

Below are the major issues presented by E-Commerce:

Web Site Audits
The law affecting E-Commerce grows and changes almost daily, and successful web sites evolve constantly. We recommend a periodic legal audit of your site so problems can be detected and remedies can be implemented before they become major liabilities. Businesses that fail to do so run the risk of losing their ability to use data gathered online in addition to other legal problems.

Privacy
Every E-Commerce web site should have a privacy policy that preserves the owners' ability to capitalize on gathered information by complying with Federal Trade Commission guidelines. Also, U.S. laws regulate online privacy in some industries.

Getting Connected
To get attention on the web takes a lot of work and a good site. We can assist in negotiating web development, hosting agreements, linking agreements, advertising agreements and various forms of alliances and joint ventures.

Getting Noticed — Legally
Linking, framing, metagging, ad-linking, spamming, spidering — trademark, copyright and unfair competition laws limit how these web technologies may be used. We can assist in maximizing your legal use of these technologies while erecting defenses to prejudicial use of them against you.

Web Domain Name Protection
Your web domain name may be your E-Commerce site's most valuable asset. We can assist with selecting and trademarking that domain name in order to protect it from being taken away. We can also assist with extracting domain names from cyberpirates and fending off domain name hijackers.

Electronic Signatures
Federal and state laws authorize the use of electronic signatures for some agreements. We can steer you through the thicket of requirements created by these laws.

Terms Of Use, Disclaimers and Clickwraps
The Federal Trade Commission has issued guidelines on how online terms and disclaimers should be structured and backed these up with high-profile prosecutions. Also, special rules apply for licensing software for online distribution through clickwrap agreements.

Content Protection
We can assist in creating up-to-date copyright registration protection for your web site's content in order to protect against misappropriation.

Capital Formation
Make certain that your privately raised capital is smart money and that your lawyers have only your interests at heart. We can help you negotiate seed, angel and venture financing's that don't give away more than necessary. And when the negotiations occur, we'll represent and be loyal to your interests alone, and not those of the capital source.

Corporate Formation
The choice and structure of corporate form can impact the possibility of investment, exit strategy and taxation of your venture. Stock-option plans, employment agreements and other devices can help a new venture survive early bumps.

Business-to-Business E-Commerce
B2B means tightly integrating with your vendors and/or customers in order to achieve tremendous efficiency and to build stronger vertical bonds. Yet, B2B can give outsiders access to aspects of your company that traditionally have been protected from outside contact. We can assist with structuring your B2B system in a way that preserves your vital trade secrets. Also, many B2B systems integrate with enterprise resource planning software and we can assist with crafting the licensing and consulting agreements for such implementations.