SitePoint Forums - Business and Legal Issues http://www.sitepoint.com/forums Learn how to build and manage a Business , discuss your problems, solutions, successes and failures. en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:16:33 GMT vBulletin 60 http://sitepointstatic.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg SitePoint Forums - Business and Legal Issues http://www.sitepoint.com/forums Email marketing for a job portal? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648306&goto=newpost Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:12:22 GMT Hi,

I am looking to market a jobsite. I was just wondering if it's legal to send invitation emails to potential employers to post jobs?

Are there any country specific laws angainst spending emails?

How can i legally market a job portal?


Many thanks for any advice. ]]> Business and Legal Issues spuser2006 http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648306 Should I dissolve my LLC now that I switched coasts? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648168&goto=newpost Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:44:58 GMT I recently moved to California, but my LLC is registered in NY. I use the company to manage my small portfolio of sites, but I recently had lunch with an attorney who offered his services to dissolve the NY LLC and reestablish a new one in CA. His argument, as I understood, was that local... I recently moved to California, but my LLC is registered in NY.
I use the company to manage my small portfolio of sites, but I recently had lunch with an attorney who offered his services to dissolve the NY LLC and reestablish a new one in CA. His argument, as I understood, was that local accountants and attorneys won't be familiar with NY law.
I fly back to NY roughly once a month, but his argument does make sense should I need to meet face to face with an attorney on short notice.
The cost of the transition would be roughly $2K-$3K. Does it make sense to do it? ]]> Business and Legal Issues saano http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648168 Suggestions for a generic disclaimer http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647932&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:52:36 GMT I'm struggling at the moment to come up with some suitable text for a generic disclaimer notice on the bottom of a site. I'll be using my usual TOS page with the site, but I'm just wanting to put a generic 1/2 line disclaimer at the foot of the site.

The site I've designed is for a group of volunteers raising funds for a larger organisation. I will check with the organisation in question what form of words they'd be most happy with, but I'm looking for ideas for how I could word it prior to meeting with "the powers that be" within the organisation next week.

What I'm trying to get across is that the fundraisers are an official and approved fundraiser for the organisation, and that the organisation are aware of and have approved the site, but that the website isn't part of the organisation or part of their website, but every time I try and come up with a form of words that's brief and to the point, it doesn't sound right. I could go along to the meeting with a footer that just reads "disclaimer goes here", but I wanted to try and have something there, as the volunteers themselves haven't managed to come up with a form of words they want to use either. :lol: ]]> Business and Legal Issues Fallen Angel http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647932 Is this site illegal (screen scraping)? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647738&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:35:27 GMT There's a fantasy sports site called screaming sports (http://www.screamingsports.com).
Those who play in fantasy leagues often times play in multiple leagues on multiple sites (i.e. one on Yahoo, one on ESPN, etc). Screaming Sports has tried to help by giving you one site where you can view AND update all of your leagues.

And that's where my legality question arises...As you can see in this image (http://97.74.54.51/images/image1.jpg), they ask for your Yahoo account info. They then retrieve your Yahoo data and display it onto their page (http://97.74.54.51/images/image2.jpg). The way they do this is via "screen scraping". Basically, they use your provided yahoo login to programatically log into your Yahoo account, "read" the content of the desired Yahoo page, and display it on their own site.

From this site, you can also update your Yahoo data. Basically, you make updates to your Yahoo data on the screaming sports website, click submit, then screaming sports goes back to Yahoo and automatically posts back your data to your Yahoo account.

I think it's a nice idea however I'm concerned of any legal issues a feature like this would have. Offhand, I didn't see any direct conflicts with Yahoo's Terms of Service (http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html) but there did seem to be a few clauses in the terms that came close.

What do you think? Is this something that's in violation of Yahoo's terms of service? If so, do you see some sort of work around or am I just better off stearing clear of re-creating a feature such as this?

Thanks. ]]> Business and Legal Issues Goalie35 http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647738 copyright at the bottom of web pages http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647663&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:13:40 GMT hi,
at the bottom of webpages in most websites we can see - copyright 2009, copyright 2004-2008 etc.
what does this mean?
is it that the domain name is registered for that period?
i searched hte web, but i couldn't find what exactly is the meaning of this?
pls help ]]> Business and Legal Issues anishmsry http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647663 Voicemail Broadcasts http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647632&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:26:35 GMT I am using slydial to send a personal thank you message to my new customer's voicemails, but it is a manual job and very time consuming. I'd like to be able to load a file each day that will send out a voicemail broadcast. For you guys who work with voicemails/IVRs, what service can you recommend? ]]> Business and Legal Issues Delta223 http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647632 Setting a Daily Rate http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647588&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:54:48 GMT I'm a freelance web designer and have always charged per project or per hour but I've recently been asked about a daily rate. I'm not too sure how to approach this, should I just charge my normal hourly rate times the hours in the workday or should I lower my rate a small bit because it's guaranteed booked work for a few days? ]]> Business and Legal Issues crowley http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647588 Web development agency in Australia http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647579&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:05:22 GMT Sorry for the long post, I just want you to understand the situation in full.

I'm a freelancer, but want to start an agency, hire people and get better/more jobs. I'm concerned about legal aspects of the business.
My current workflow.
1) I quote on guru.com
2) I get a project
3) Do it
4) get paid (I prefer escrow)
5) Withdraw money to my personal bank account acting as an individual, not a company.
6) Provide declaration of income and pay taxes as an individual.

I want to start a company and change the scheme to the following.
1-3 remain the same, but starting from 4 I have 2 variants:
1) client prefers using guru (or other freelancing system)
2) client prefers paying directly to me

In the first variant, everything remains the same. But according to the UA's laws, I should form a 3-tier agreement between me, bank and guru.com that proves I get these money for services. Next, I'll have issues dealing with international currency because all USD transfers within Ukraine are done using the intermediary bank (Morgan JP Chase, USA).

In the second variant, I'll have to form agreement with him directly and then just the same as in variant #1 (issues with USD transfers)

In addition, income tax here is 15%, VAT is 20% and total payments per employee (pension, income, and number of other taxes) are around 55%. So to pay someone $1000 I should actually pay 1550 - $1000 to employee and $550 to different governmental institutions. It's quite a lot.
When I have been working for UK-based company (remote work), they deducted 22% from my salary. But 22% are not 55% :)
Opening company here is around US$200.

So I'm thinking of the following variant - open AU-based company (without visiting AU personally, issuing the Power of Attorney to some lawyers) and employ all my workers as remote ones. So all transactions are made to the AU bank account, taxes are paid here and then salary is transferred to UA accounts of my employers. So I'm interested in taxes applied in AU and what % of salary is paid in the form of taxes? Also, how much does it cost to register AU-based company, open account, get tax number and accountance support?

Also, where can I see if there is any dual taxation agreement between UA and AU (so I pay taxes in AU, provide necessary documents and my employees are free from taxes here in UA).

Why Australia, not some offshore? Just because I want to move here some day and I'll have everything ready here for my business by then :)

I just want to compare these possibilities and go the right way. Maybe the AU variant is not worth itself because it means much more complexities and doesn't give essential saving.

Any advice is welcome!
Thanks beforehad! ]]> Business and Legal Issues KJedi http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647579 comparing to sites for copyright infringement http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647540&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:47:41 GMT Hey all A friend of mine has been served notice that they are infringing copyright of another site, but the persons who have served the notice refuse to say what content has been infringed. Regardless of the legal ins and outs of it here, is there a way to compare the content of two website to... Hey all

A friend of mine has been served notice that they are infringing copyright of another site, but the persons who have served the notice refuse to say what content has been infringed.

Regardless of the legal ins and outs of it here, is there a way to compare the content of two website to find duplicate content?

We're talking about duplicate copy here, not images.

This is quite an urgent matter and I appreciate any help you can give to point me in the direction of a solution as described above. ]]> Business and Legal Issues mickthetree http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647540 <![CDATA[Legal issues desgining an "Adult Content" website]]> http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647492&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:34:07 GMT Hello all,

I've been a longish time lurker, hoping to get some advice here. For the record, I've done a search, and the only semi relevant threads I've found are old. So rather than zombie a thread, I figured I'd start anew.

Just this afternoon I'd gotten a request from a gent who's looking to set up an "adult" content website. I have no problems with the content aspect, I'm just wondering if there are any legal issues I should be aware of regarding my responsibilities.

Can I be held responsible for the content that he puts on the site after I've completed the project (design and build, no content population)?

Or once the site is done is it on the owner? Not saying the guy is shady, but I'd rather not be holding the bag.

Thanks in advance! ]]> Business and Legal Issues JSullivan4 http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647492 Where do they sue? Host country or country where business is registered? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647474&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:15:10 GMT If a big company decide to sue you, will they sue based on where the site is located or where is business is registered and operated? If a big company decide to sue you, will they sue based on where the site is located or where is business is registered and operated? ]]> Business and Legal Issues dietcomment http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647474 Infrige trademark with forum content? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647469&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:25:45 GMT For example, i run a bag forum where I allow members to buy and sell bag In the heading of each forum section I put each brand name, for example P R A X X and members are allowed to post their P R A X X bags there for sale. The second section I put C O A X X so for... I have already indicate very... For example, i run a bag forum where I allow members to buy and sell bag

In the heading of each forum section I put each brand name, for example P R A X X and members are allowed to post their P R A X X bags there for sale. The second section I put C O A X X so for...

I have already indicate very clearly on the front page of the website that

Quote:
Disclaimer: XYZ is NOT an authorized dealer or representative of the Brand being offered for sales here. All trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners and used here for identification purposes only.

Am I infringing their trademark?

For example something like this




How Can i protect myself?
Attached Images
File Type: gif upload.GIF (6.8 KB)
]]> Business and Legal Issues dietcomment http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647469 Can you get sued for negative feedback posted by one of your users? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647460&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:34:06 GMT Lets say I'm running a forum for inquiries.

People post their negative and positive transaction reviews regarding a particular company.

Company X has a dissatisfied customer. That customer comes onto my boards, posts his review, and causes a hell storm of bickering between Company X and its customer.

There is a possibility that this review could hurt this company's business and reputation. So, Company X threatens you (the forum owner) with a lawsuit if you don't remove the thread.

What do you do? Remove the thread and be accused of covering up? or let it ride and deal with the legal costs of simply defending yourself? ]]> Business and Legal Issues NateL http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647460 7 Great Rip-offs—and How to Avoid Them! http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647384&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:22:47 GMT Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, 7 Great Rip-offs—and How to Avoid Them! (http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/7-great-rip-offs). __________ “pay when paid” provision for subcontractors. I have to say, it is very ugly way of treating subcontractors.... Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, 7 Great Rip-offs—and How to Avoid Them!.
__________

“pay when paid” provision for subcontractors.

I have to say, it is very ugly way of treating subcontractors. What about trust, responsibility, obligations?
I was treated in such way by great, multinational corporation with bold CSR blah, blah, which complained, that small company from Turkey has not paid to them, therefore I would not be paid, because the service was intended for them.
Don't you pay in groceries, only because you are waiting for money? How long it could last in such way? Where are limits between begging, business and robbery?

Greetings :-)
Basia ]]> Business and Legal Issues basia http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647384 Prepaid legal services http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647335&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:22:24 GMT Hi,

Pre-paid legal service plans have been sold in the United States since ninety seventies and in some states they are considered to be insurance and thus regulated by the state's insurance commission. Prepaid legal services is attractive to people who cannot afford to retain a lawyer on a regular basis.

I like the forum members to share their views on prepaid legal services. ]]> Business and Legal Issues Osvaldo http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=647335