Not all online privacy policies and other website legal documents are created equal. In fact, using the wrong documents could be as dangerous as not having the right ones on your site. Here are five of the common errors Internet business owners make when putting a privacy policy, terms of use, and other legal docs on their sites.
Error #1 – Borrowing Another Website’s Legal Documents
If you borrow another site’s privacy policy, refund policy, terms of use, DMCA notice, membership agreement or other legal document, you’re likely infringing upon the copyright of the person or entity that owns the legal documents. This means you could face a demand of up to $150,000 per infringement, attorney’s fees and court costs.
Related Article – Privacy Policy 101: What Every Website Owner Should Know
Even if the website’s owner gives you permission to use the documents, the site’s owner may not have the legal right to do so.
Why?
Many website legal documents are prepared by Internet business lawyers whose law firms own the copyrights. Site owners use the legalese under a license from the law firms rather than owning the documents.
A few years ago, an Internet lawyer contacted all of the website owners who were using his legal documents without permission. They were given a choice of paying him $5,000+ per site for a license or he would sue them for $150,000 per copyright infringement (and they would lose)…
