I can read your mind. You are thinking, "oh, great and insightful technology legal counsel, what do you mean by a 'legal landscape' and what does that have to do with blogging?" My initial response is that, (a) you've asked two questions and (b) if you plan to use blogging as a component of your business model, you need to know what potential pitfalls exist. That is the legal landscape of blogging. It is made up of the hills and valleys that must be overcome or avoided to reach blogging nirvana. In the next few posts from yours truly, I will be giving you the 50,000 ft viewpoint on the legal ramifications on blogging. Obviously, I can't give you specific legal advice until you've retained me, but I can give you my personal opinion on the issues and ramifications of which you should be aware.
In my opinion, there are two questions that any business must ask itself when determining that blogging (or any social media for that matter) is going to be part of their business model. The first question is how do I go about achieving my business goals. Put another way, "what should I put on my blog?". There are many great providers and services that can assist you with that question. As a client of their services, I'm very partial to Compendium. Additionally, as Castor has repeatedly blogged in the past, their methods and insights work. Thus, I leave you to the hands of others for that first question.
The second question will be my focus, namely what are the general parameters that I need to follow to minimize the legal impact of my blog on my business. Put another way, "what can I put on my blog?" I will tackle that super-insightful question in this series of posts. That question is heart of the legal landscape and you can think of these posts as a type of rudimentary topographical map to consider in planning your business and your efforts.
Blogging encompasses several issues. There are privacy litigation concerns, basic tort law, copyright law, contract law, FTC advertising issues, SaaS law. The whole gambit in one tidy bundle. Additionally, those are your external legal concerns. There are also internal legal concerns surrounding what your employees are doing and what they should be doing. Social media policies, non-competition agreements, trade secret agreements. All of these are potential issues that need to be addressed and considered. Of course, you can't eliminate all of these issues. Neither I, nor any other attorney, has a magic wand that eliminates legal issues. But, by educating yourself and comporting your actions accordingly, you can minimize your exposure to an acceptable level. And isn't that really what we all want in this world.
So, prepare yourself to fly low across the terrain of the corporate blogging legal landscape. Hopefully, you learn something. Stay tuned for next time when I start delving into the legal rules that are most at play in corporate blogging.
In my opinion, there are two questions that any business must ask itself when determining that blogging (or any social media for that matter) is going to be part of their business model. The first question is how do I go about achieving my business goals. Put another way, "what should I put on my blog?". There are many great providers and services that can assist you with that question. As a client of their services, I'm very partial to Compendium. Additionally, as Castor has repeatedly blogged in the past, their methods and insights work. Thus, I leave you to the hands of others for that first question.
The second question will be my focus, namely what are the general parameters that I need to follow to minimize the legal impact of my blog on my business. Put another way, "what can I put on my blog?" I will tackle that super-insightful question in this series of posts. That question is heart of the legal landscape and you can think of these posts as a type of rudimentary topographical map to consider in planning your business and your efforts.
Blogging encompasses several issues. There are privacy litigation concerns, basic tort law, copyright law, contract law, FTC advertising issues, SaaS law. The whole gambit in one tidy bundle. Additionally, those are your external legal concerns. There are also internal legal concerns surrounding what your employees are doing and what they should be doing. Social media policies, non-competition agreements, trade secret agreements. All of these are potential issues that need to be addressed and considered. Of course, you can't eliminate all of these issues. Neither I, nor any other attorney, has a magic wand that eliminates legal issues. But, by educating yourself and comporting your actions accordingly, you can minimize your exposure to an acceptable level. And isn't that really what we all want in this world.
So, prepare yourself to fly low across the terrain of the corporate blogging legal landscape. Hopefully, you learn something. Stay tuned for next time when I start delving into the legal rules that are most at play in corporate blogging.
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