Apps and Websites

Apps and websites can enjoy an IP rights protection envelope, all of course depending on the type and nature of the venture. For example, a patent can protect the technological components related to communication with servers / other system components, or the way data is handled, designs can protect, for example, configurations and the interface, copyrights can protect the source code of the site or application, and of course additional elements such as The texts, media, screen order and more. It is important to remember that copyright does not protect the idea itself but the way it is expressed. Trademarks can protect the trade name of the application, including other marks if they meet the requirements of the law and constitute a means of identification of the product/service.

As we can see, it is possible to get a protection envelope of intellectual property rights, all depending on the nature and type of venture. Therefore, it is very important to get the right legal advice from the early stages to formulate the right IP strategy.

Like any venture, all the relevant legal and commercial aspects need to be considered, and we will detail some of them here, but we will emphasize that it is essential to contact an attorney for advice on all the issues that are important to you:

1. Entity Formation – either by way of establishing a company or by way of establishing a partnership.
2. Working with Agreements – employee-employer relations and/or customer-service relations, etc.
3. NDA – Signing the relevant parties’ confidentiality agreements, especially in the initial stages of the project.
4.  Addressing the issue of ownership of the intellectual property developed along the way, such as an explicit reference in the various agreements, that all products that will be developed during the work will remain the property of the enterprise owners.
5. Receive legal advice from day one regarding the various laws relevant to the field of activity of the enterprise – so different regulations in different countries, aspects of taxation, consumer law, defamation law and protection of privacy, and more must be taken into account. This point is further validated in light of the changes that have taken place in international standards regarding the protection of privacy, as well as regarding the terms and conditions of use of the site/application, which constitute a legal agreement for everything between the site/application owners and their users.
6. Performing freedom to operate examination – that is, a legal examination of whether there is a prohibition/restriction to engage in the enterprise field, use a certain technology or a certain name for the enterprise, and more.

A well-written commercial agreement that anticipates future challenges can save the parties many headaches, misunderstandings, and legal disputes. The agreement’s purpose is to “put everything on the table” so that each party can anticipate what it must do and what it will receive in return for fulfilling its obligations to the agreement.

The agreement should address the most basic things like the quality of the service, what consideration will be given for it and at what stage and manner, and should also address more complex issues. For example, an agreement with service providers should relate the issue of IP ownership since we do not want to find ourselves in a situation where at the end of a long process, we will discover that the rightful owner of our intellectual property is actually the service provider.

We also want the agreement to include clear obligations of the service provider regarding the nature and quality of its service so that we do not find ourselves in a situation where the service provider has provided us with products that violate third party rights, which will put us in legal exposure. It is essential to address the sanctions imposed on a party that does not fulfill its part of the agreement.

In addition, the agreement must determine who is the appropriate forum to discuss legal disputes and what law should apply in such a case. One of the benefits of the current era is the ability to work with professionals from around the world. Still, this advantage can present challenges when it comes to regulating relationships between people from different countries where other legal systems exist. For this reason, it is vital that the parties agree in advance on where the litigation will take place, instead of wasting a lot of resources trying to reach an agreement after the dispute erupts.

As you can see, many variables must be taken into account when we want to regulate the relationship with service providers, so it is very important to consult an attorney already in the early stages of the venture to avoid as much as possible costly mistakes, some of which cannot be cured.