Law Relating to Online Transactions

Is a website a product or service? Discuss.

Generally, there are two kinds of software that are considered as a product or service, if the software is sold on shelves as a mass marketing product, it is a product, and if the software is tailor-made, it is considered a service. Also, tailored software is considered a product if it is sold to a large number of customers. In case of negligence, the developer is responsible for believing that the website is a product. Web customers can reasonably see the warranty protection in case of damage from the use of the product purchased through the Company’s website.

A website is “a set of HTML and subdomains on the World Wide Web that are generally admittance through the similar URL and are on the similar server, and are generally merged and integrated.” One theory is that it is a product created by a web designer and sold to the end-user. Various programming and graphic design tools are used to create this new product.

Others argue that a website is a feature that consumers can offer as marketers. It is not a seller’s product; it provides services to the company and website. A website is an online demonstration of an individual or thing.

Websites are not treated as tangible objects but contain programming code and physical files on the hosting server. But the website is produced as a fuzzy service tailored to customer needs. It is not feasible to make a website with no close contact with consumers.

So it all depends on the perception of whether a website is a product or service. From a web developer’s perspective, you sell your services and create a finished product (website). From the end-user and consumer perception, a website can be a product (web application) or a common product (online presence).

Write a short note on legal implications of Internet business fraud attracting attention around the world.

Internet Business Fraud with its Legal Implications

Internet Business Fraud or Online fraud is a kind of cybercrime scam or fraud that makes use of the Internet and may engage in blocking information or giving wrong information to sufferers of money, property, and heritage. Online fraud is not a unique and specific crime, but it involves a variety of illegal and illegal actions taken in cyberspace. However, this is different from theft because in this case the victim voluntarily and knowingly presents information, money, or property to the offender. It is composed of temporary and spatially separated offenders.

According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and McAfee, cybercrime costs the global economy $ 600 billion, 0.8% of global GDP. Online fraud comes in many forms. This email can range from spam to online scams. Online fraud can also occur when the use of Internet services is partially or wholly dependent on the Internet.

When it comes to the lawful outcomes of online business scams, a lot of governments are cautious. The Postal Service is concerned about fraud on the Internet, especially on holidays, prizes, or bogus web merchants. Law enforcement agencies in various countries are loosely organized to monitor and prosecute illegal acts. The quick growth of communications technology and the common use of the Internet for commerce cause a lot of challenges to legislation all over the place.

Copyright and trademark laws are different in different countries. The thought of sending a cryptographic message to anyone in the country who has banned encryption can be a legitimate nightmare.

Write a short note on Tort Law on the Internet.

Tort Law on the Internet.

Tort, in common law, is a civil offense (other than a breach of contract) that causes damage or harm to the plaintiff, resulting in legal liability for the person who committed the fraudulent act. This can include deliberate emotional distress, negligence, financial loss, injury, invasion of privacy, and many other things. Tort law includes claims in a lawsuit seeking private civil damages, usually monetary damages. Tort claims can be compared to criminal law, which deals with criminal acts punishable by the state. Although civil and criminal legal systems differ in the United States, misdemeanors such as assault and battery can result in civil prosecution and criminal prosecution. Tort law can conflict with contract law, which also provides civil remedies after a breach of duty arising from a contract; Contractual obligations, however, are agreed to by both parties, but in both tort and criminal law, the obligations are more basic and differ regardless of whether the parties have a contract or not. They have bearded loss or damage in advance as a direct effect of their violation of duty. While crimes are torts, the cause of prosecution for civil damages does not have to be the result of a criminal act; Civil damages can be caused by negligence that does not constitute criminal negligence. The loss victim may recover her damages in the form of damages in the lawsuit. In order to win, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, the so-called party, must prove that the action or inaction is a legally recognizable cause of the damages. In civil law jurisdiction, violence is tantamount to “crime.”

Internet tort cases have already been brought against businesses and clients. Most of the cases are related to fraud, negligence, false advertising, misrepresentation, and trademark violations. Fraud is the intent to deceive. If an adverse material fact about a product is known in advance and covered up in a sale, it will be a case of fraud by the e-merchant against the consumer. Negligence does not take a specific action, resulting in injury or material loss to another person. False advertising is simply a publication of the availability of a product or service, in reality, there is no such thing available. They claim that the product does something when it is not actually possible is misrepresented.

Difference between Patents, Copyright and Trademark.

Difference between Patents, Copyright, and Trademark:

• Patents secure original, helpful and intangible innovations by providing their holders the right to prohibit others from producing, use or sale of patented objects. There are three types of patents: utility patents, design patents and plant patents. Copyright protects any unauthorized copying, reproduction, or distribution of their work, such as books, films, illustrations and creative works such as software source code. Only expressions kept in clear form can be protected by copyright. Trademarks protect the name of the product or service or the brand associated with it. Trademark is any word, name, symbol, color or tone used by a company to identify and approve its products and to be manufactured or sold by third parties. The service mark is similar to the trade mark, but identifies the service, not the product.
• A patent is a right to exclude others from inventing, using, selling, or importing. Copyright secures the form of expression, not the content of the writing. Trademark rights can be used to avoid others from using the same brand by chance, but not to stop others from producing the similar goods or selling the same goods or services under any other brand.
• A patent lasts for twenty years after it is filed under the Indian Patent Act 1970. The copyright of the new work is for life, with an additional sixty years under the Indian Copyright Act 1957. Under Section 25 of the Trademark Act of 1999, the trademark is protected for 10 years and can be renewed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of Sec. In theory, the trademark will last forever.
• Once a copyright or patent has expired, they cannot be reactivated. However, the trademark may be renewed from time to time according to the conditions of the Trademark Act 1999.
• In a patent infringement lawsuit, no gain or loss is imputed to the defendant under the 1970 Patent Act. Trademark infringement is punishable by imprisonment and in accordance with the 1999 Trademark Act.
• Copyright is automatic. Once the work is generated, it automatically got the copyright protection. Registration is compulsory to save this protection, but registration does not generate copyright. However, trademarks and patents originate only after registration and registration approval. Acceptance is not automatic.

 

 

What is the difference between Patent and Copyright?

Copyright law is different from patent law in so many ways. Following are some of the differences which contrast between Patent law and copyright law. So, now let’s discuss some differences between these laws:

Basis	Patent	Copyright
Meaning	Patent means the proprietary rights granted to the inventor which prohibit others from producing, operating, or dealing with the invention.	Copyright means a form of protection granted to the maker of new work, which prohibits others from executing, selling, or using work.
Right Protected	Right granted in admiration of a new discovery to producing the goods patented or make use of the process patented.	Right granted to use a particular mark, which might be a symbol, word, or device functional to articles of commerce to specify the uniqueness of goods.
Who can Register	The actual inventor, assignee, or legal representative of any right of submission.	The author or publisher of any other person interested in having copyright on their work.
Time Period	20 years of inventions, 14 years for design for an invention, and 5-7 years for the case of food and medicines.	A lifetime with 50 years for (a) dramatic, (b) literary, (c) musical, and (d) artistic works. 50 years starting from publication year for records.
Commercial Use	Transfer of rights or licenses to industrialists based on the payment of a lump sum or a royalty.	By delegating rights or licensing to others on a royalty or outright basis.
Penalty for Infringement	Injunction, Damages, Account of Profits.	Civil, Criminal, Administrative.
Covers	It covers Inventions.	It covers Artistic and Literacy work.
Registration	In this, proper registration is required.	In this registration is automatic, no formality is needed.
Excludes	It excludes others from manufacturing or using products.	It excludes others from copying or trading products.

Define Intellectual Property (IP). Why protecting intellectual property on the web is difficult?

Intellectual property:

Intellectual property includes all the tangible and intangible goods of a person’s mind. For example, land or a laptop, or a pen, are instances of property that exist in the real world. You can touch and feel them, they are tangible, you can feel them, there are borders to it, there is no possible dispute with regard to where the contours of these properties are. The land is defined by its boundaries, a pen is an object that exists in time and space. So, we do not have problems in ascertaining the boundaries of this property whereas, when we come to IP, we do have certain issues as to understanding the outer limits or the boundaries or the private space of the IP. Now, IP specifically refers to things that emanate from human creative labor. IP manifests itself in various forms. For instance, if you look at an invention, an invention is an IP that can be protected by a patent, which is an IP right. A literary work, a book, or the work that is written or expressed in words could be an IP that can be protected by IP rights that is copyright. So, there is a distant distinction between IP or the rights of property that manifest in certain creations made by human beings, and the right that protects these manifestations. So, IP is any result of any individual intellect which is distinctive or original and has little worth in the marketplace. In the context of e-business, the IP consists of digital images, digital files, websites.

Online business models: Protecting this on the web is difficult because

• It is simple and reasonably priced to copy and distribute digitized information.
• Furthermore, it is very difficult to monitor who is using intellectual property and how.

Information stored on a computer (e.g., software data, trade secrets, confidential personal information) is generally much more valuable than computer hardware. In order to protect this information, many of the concepts in the practice of computer law involve law, which includes copyright, patents, and trademarks.