Helping You Find Website Agreement Legal Advice
Website agreements can be a powerful tool to protect a business. Before you decide if you need legal advice, read our full guide on how businesses might benefit and when a Lawhive solicitor can help.
6 Key Terms in a Website Agreement
Website agreements are contracts between a website and its users that specify the terms and conditions of use. You might also know them as terms of use, terms of service, website privacy policies or user agreements. When it comes to web agreements, there are a handful of key terms that commonly appear:
Ownership and Licensing: These clauses should cover your intellectual property rights and website content ownership asserting your rights over your intellectual property including photos, words, music and graphics and when they can be reused, if at all.
User Conduct: This typically details the rules governing user behaviour on the website stating what they are and aren’t allowed to do on your website (such as restrictions on harmful or illegal activities). If you allow user-generated content, you might include terms on what users can upload to your website.
Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability: Disclaimer warranties are crucial to limit website owner's liability for errors, data loss or other issues users may encounter. This can protect businesses against users claiming that a website infected their device with malware, or users attempting to claim damages for a service disruption when they use your website for commerce.
Privacy and Data Protection: Most websites have separate privacy policies. Compliance with data protection laws like GDPR is essential, and privacy policies can be integrated into a website agreement to ensure that every user that uses your website agrees to your policy on data collection and storage.
Termination: Agreements can include clauses about the terms under which the website owner can suspend or terminate user accounts or access. You may wish to include a term that outlines that you have the right to terminate use accounts at any time at your discretion without notice.
Jurisdiction: A jurisdiction clause explains the applicable laws that govern a website agreement and the court system that will used to oversee any potential disputes
What Are the Legal Benefits of Website Agreements?
Legal advice or support can help you to draft crystal clear agreements that minimise customer disputes and give users clarity on how to use the site. And in general, web agreements provide several key legal benefits:
Minimising Legal Risks
A well-drafted website agreement reduces the risk of disputes and ensures compliance with legal obligations. This is why it's important to include clauses that limit a business’s liability. Businesses can include the dispute resolution methods that website users must use, in a liability clause, when they are in a dispute with the business.
Clarity for Users
Setting clear rules for users helps to manage expectations and reduce the likelihood of conflicts. This can be achieved through acceptable use policies. These typically list prohibited uses of a website, such as data harvesting, harassing others and using a website for personal gain. By setting clear usage terms, users are less likely to use your website in a way you don’t allow.
Protection of Intellectual Property
Your website is your intellectual property, if you don’t protect it there’s a chance it can be misused. Website agreements through intellectual property clauses protect the owner’s intellectual property, including design, content, and trademarks.
When using website developers to build websites, businesses need to be mindful about who owns the content after the website goes live. IP assignment agreements are used to transfer the ownership of a website or app to the buyer from the designer when the design is complete. Contracts with web developers can also specify who owns the intellectual property rights of a website, and what happens in a dispute, or when the agreement is terminated.
Costs and Fees Involved
There are several costs and fees involved in website agreements. Typically, a solicitor won't charge above and beyond for this type of service.
Legal Fees
Businesses will need to pay solicitor fees to have a legal professional draft or review a website agreement, including any customisation required for specific business models. The cost for a licensed solicitor to help with a website agreement is dependent on many factors including the complexity and specific requirements of the case. On average, it is expected to range from £100-£150 but in some cases, it could cost as much as £200.
Ongoing Compliance
As with any legal agreement, periodic reviews and updates are required to website agreements to ensure they stay compliant with changing regulations, such as new privacy laws. GDPR changes to data privacy laws caused many businesses to panic about the changes they needed to make to their data collection policies and how website agreements and privacy policies outlined their practices.