Michigan Lawyers. World Wide Web Legal Perspective. 

Internet, e-commerce, and traditional companies use websites as a routine matter in today's connected world. In fact, an online presence is essential for most businesses. But conducting business over the Internet presents new twists on old issues and entirely unique legal challenges.    

E-Business Counsel's Internet attorneys routinely work with clients to address specific Internet statutes and regulations only applicable to the on-line world, drafting electronic contracts, website design issues, Internet tax issues, complying with state and federal privacy regulations, and securing and protecting online intellectual property rights.

Whether you are expanding an existing business into e-commerce or launching a new Internet based-business, our Internet lawyers leverage their traditional business law experience and their deep Internet legal experience to provide a complete 360 degree perspective of traditional and unique issues arising under Internet law. 

Specific examples of matters our Internet lawyers routinely address include:   

• Selecting the appropriate business entity for conducting business over the Internet;
  
• Drafting website disclaimers, terms and conditions of use, privacy policies, competition rules, and online sales or license agreements; 
  
• Drafting, negotiating and advising clients regarding licensing agreements, technology equipment leases, hosting maintenance and support contracts, warranty issues, web site agreements, domain name registrations; and other issues associated with existing and emerging technologies;
• Assisting website owners to obtain digital certificates that may be required for conducting business or transactions on the Web. These certificates are generally issued by a certification authority (CA) and we collaborate with website owners to comply with these certificate authorities requirements. This includes providing legal opinions as required by GoDaddy's premium digital certificate standards; 
  Drafting Confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements;
• Working with web designers and website owners to draft website development agreements;
• Negotiating and litigating disputes between website owners and website designers, including disputes involving content ownership, transitioning to new service providers, and holding websites "hostage" and related IT assets; 
  
• Representing companies and individuals in recovering lost or stolen domain names, as well as recovering domain names registered by cybersquatters and other domain name related disputes;  
• Blogging risks such as on-line defamation or violation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations pertaining to endorsements
• Internet taxes;
  
• Drafting and negotiating co-location / off-site server and data storage agreements;
• Online copyright and trademark infringement;
• Web Audits to identify and evaluate contractual and other risks associated with web site security, hoting agreements, and data breaches;
• Drafting technology use policies for employees, monitoring employee email, and electronic surveillance; 
• Issues related to the Communications Decency Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act;
• Drafting E-mail policies, procedures, disclaimers and limitations to avoid inadvertent contract formation;
• Structuring and drafting technology joint venture and affiliate agreements;
  
• Drafting non-competition agreements;
• Addressing "Cloud" or software-as-a-service (SaaS) issues, such as security, drafting and negotiating SaaS agreements, and limiting legal and business risks;
  
• Registration of domain names as trademarks or service marks;
• Software development and acquisition issues; and
• Software maintenance/support agreements.

Additionally,the Internet lawyers of E-Business Counsel have litigated many of the preceding issues in state and federal court. The benefit to you is that our Internet attorneys have a solid foundation to identify Internet law problems and propose solutions in advance of litigation. After all, if a problem no longer exist, what's the problem?

Further, our Internet and e-commerce lawyers are not just legal technicians: These attorneys also have experience with various Internet related technologies - including web and e-commerce applications. So you get the best of both worlds - an Internet lawyer that knows the law and the Internet. 

Cloud Computing Legal Services 

Companies are increasingly turning to the Internet for online business services. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as cloud computing or cloud services, which is general way of describing computer services that permit user programs or data files to be stored remotely and then accessed via the Internet. Such online business services or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) allow large and small businesses alike to move traditionally provided in-house IT services to the cloud to streamline internal technology operations and reduce costs.

Still, doing business in the cloud can be a legal minefield for companies and their counsel. Take for example the following legal risks cloud users must consider: data breaches, hosting of illegal content, inaccessibility of critical business information, and meeting legal and ethical obligations to identify, preserve, and produce discoverable information in response to litigation.

Additionally, in-house counsel, IT professionals, and business owners need to consider old and new contract issues before entering into a cloud service provider contract. A few examples include:

Businesses - regardless of size or industry - create, store, transmit, and process information as part of their routine operations. This is generally accomplished through some form of information technology and the Internet for the purpose of efficiently conducting business and serving customers. Certainly such integrated information technology provides tremendous advantages and cost-savings for business organizations. But the integration of business, technology and data reliance also creates new twists on traditional risks as well as raising novel and complex legal issues. This area of the law, commonly referred to as "Information law" includes legal services focused on information technology, protection of information, and the life cycle of sensitive information from organization cradle-to-grave, e.g., retention, collection, use, security, and disposal. E-Business counsel's information law lawyers routinely address these matters. Our information law attorneys focus on legal issues involving privacy, data breach notification, data security, information technology, e-commerce and intellectual property. 

These are just a few areas to consider before entering into a cloud service contract. The attorneys at E-Business Counsel are available to assist on both sides of the cloud, i.e., we work with cloud service providers and users of such online business services to make sure the cloud computing contract contains well-tailored provisions to protect your interests, business, reputation, and assets while effectively leveraging the cloud's infrastructure and the benefit it promises to provide.