E-Commerce

What Is E-Commerce?

What Can You Do To Protect Your Domain Name?

How Is A Sale Confirmed On The Web?

Are There Rules For Advertising Online?

What Legal Issues Arise For Buyers?

What Is E-Commerce?

E-Commerce (or electronic commerce, or eCommerce) is transacting business by means of an interactive digital global network, and the term now usually refers to Internet commerce. Since the almost universal adoption of the Web for conducting business, e-commerce has become the normal way of conducting all manner of transactions, both retail and business-to-business.

What Can You Do To Protect Your Domain Name?

If you want to sell goods or services via the Web, you first need to have an Internet presence that reflects your marketing identity. Obtaining and protecting a domain name for your web site is important. Disputes concerning domain names are common. Disputes regarding rights in domain names can be decided by a number of different forums, including Federal courts and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

How Is A Sale Confirmed On The Web?

Using a web site to sell goods or services requires agreements that can be entered into online. Some agreements may include only the terms of the sale, such as whether the product can be returned for a refund. Other agreements may specify terms that govern the provision of services such as computer programming.

Online agreements must comply with applicable laws for the market involved. Conforming e-commerce agreements so they are suitable for customers of different countries may require more than one version of the agreement. In order to have country-specific agreements, it may be necessary to adopt a process of electronically authenticating the identity and location of each online customer.

Are There Rules For Advertising Online?

In the United States, direct marketing via e-mail is limited by the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The truth of Internet advertising is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. Various state laws may also apply.

What Legal Issues Arise For Buyers?

The buyer in an e-commerce transaction is interested in making sure that the entity with whom it is doing business is ready, willing and able to perform what it promises. For this reason, buyers need to be able to authenticate the identity of an e-commerce supplier, and bind the supplier to an appropriate online purchase agreement.

The buyer also wants assurance that the seller's e-commerce system will adequately protect the buyer's privacy, identity, and confidential data.