E-commerce businesses focus their main efforts on using the internet as the main channel for their business activities. This fact gives e-commerce businesses unique characteristics with respect to business operations and their legal needs. This, in turn, means that e-commerce businesses need to retain internet law and e-commerce lawyers who have unique experience and skill sets that overlap and match the needs of e-commerce businesses.
The need for specific legal services will, of course, depend on the specific business and its business model. For example, direct-to-consumer businesses may need very specific legal assistance with customs and other cross-border shipping issues where products are sent directly to customers from overseas manufacturing centers. For these types of supplier/shipping contracts, important and internationally enforceable provisions will be needed to cover legal requirements by the U.S. border and customs control officials. You will need indemnification provisions to cover claims related to delays and failures to comply with legal requirements by suppliers and shippers. Often, legal procedures and matters like venue are given little attention. But, when dealing with foreign suppliers and shippers, questions of service of process and the use of U.S. courts are very important. You can only recover your contract damages if you can obtain jurisdiction over your foreign defendant
Even if you are not dealing with foreign suppliers and international shipping, there are legal skills needed for ecommerce businesses. These relate in many different ways to the online aspect of sales. If you are using online marketplaces operated by other companies, there will be very detailed and log contracts to comply with. Since online purchases are cash-less, there are other contracts and obligations imposed by payment processors. There are as many issues when accepting payment via blockchain coins and tokens.
Aside from these types of specific legal issues, e-commerce businesses face compliance challenges with respect to web accessibility, consumer privacy requirements, cybersecurity, notice and remediation requirements for threatened and actual hacks loss of data, and more.
E-commerce lawyers also must have experience to help with the more “mundane” parts of running a successful business. These things include matters like financing, collecting and paying sales taxes, obtaining workspace, hiring and retaining employees (including standard and executive-level employees), and more. Legal issues are intertwined with all of these aspects of running a business. And, importantly, these issues are common with many businesses regardless of the business model and/or the primary sales channel being used. Other examples include:
- Drafting, review, and negotiation of non-specialized contracts and agreements (such as SaaS agreements, vendors, distributors, influencers, etc.)
- Employee contracts and handbooks
- Executive-level employee contracts, including non-compete and non-disclosure agreements
- Review, negotiatio,n and consummation of merger and acquisition transactions and/or asset purchase sales
- Conducting and defending litigation
- Responding to threats of litigation and conducting many forms of dispute resolution
- Protection of intellectual property for your e-commerce business and helping to avoid infringement of IP owned/held by others
- Compliance with anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws
- Compliance with laws and regulations concerning false and misleading advertising and deceptive business practices
- Physical location accessibility compliance
- Insurance and general liability issues
- Financial matters
- Real estate transactions
Contact the E-commerce Business Attorneys at Revision Legal
For more information, contact the experienced e-commerce business lawyers at Revision Legal. You can contact us through the form on this page or call (855) 473-8474.
