What Online Retailers Need to Know About Intellectual Property

Posted: January 07, 2014

Online retailers, or e-tailers, are growing by leaps and bounds. Small e-tailers need to careful when starting out, to be sure they're not accidentally infringing on an existing e-tialers rights. Simple steps will make sure things go smoothly, and allow you to focus on making big profits.

LegalZoom provides tips that will help all e-tailers avoid trouble.

With nearly $200 billion in reported sales in 2011, e-commerce sales are expected to continue to grow over the next several years. In 2012, e-commerce sales in the U.S. topped $225 billion, up 16% from 2011, according to a U.S. Commerce Department estimate.

This is good news for the millions of e-tailers already operating “virtual storefronts.” But with even the smallest of operations now able to reach across the country, it’s easier than ever to unintentionally infringe on another individual’s or entity’s intellectual property rights, including trademarks, copyrights and patents.

If you’re considering opening a virtual storefront on the Internet this year, you need to know about intellectual property rights and make sure not to violate someone else’s rights. Keeping it legal helps ensure smooth sailing (and hopefully big profits) for your online business.

1. Trademarks

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of these, which identifies and distinguishes the source of one party’s goods or services from those of other parties. Like brick and mortar businesses that offer goods and services to consumers, e-tailers use trademarks to distinguish themselves and their products and services and inform consumers where a product or service comes from.

A trademark can be a valuable asset to an e-tailer’s business, making the selection of a trademark an important business decision. An e-tailer will want to make sure not to choose a trademark that would be difficult or impossible to protect, or that would infringe someone else’s rights. Indeed, before selecting a trademark, it is important to conduct a complete trademark search, as the results can identify potential problems and can help save you expenses and problems down the line. When it comes to trademark selection, it pays to do your homework from the beginning.

Read the entire article Intellectual Property Tips for E-tailers, at LegalZoom.