WEBSITE SERVICES LEEDS

It is a fact of modern business that an online presence is more often than not a necessity for running a successful business. Electronic shopfronts have become the norm and the high street is now the internet. At Virtuoso we appreciate how important your online presence is to your business. We regularly help businesses develop and protect their online presence. Our solicitors are regularly instructed to advise businesses on the development of their websites. We have successfully acted for many clients against their website developer in securing their online assets when a relationship has broken down. Due to their technical backgrounds our team is uniquely placed to help you and your business establish and manage your online presence. We can therefore provide your business with help and advice in the following areas; Website Development – At Virtuoso we often receive calls from businesses in a panic. They have had a dispute with their website developer over their hugely expensive website and now the developer will not release the website or the content. This can leave many businesses in somewhat of a pickle, thus the often rather irate phone calls. In many of these cases this situation could have been avoided if a proper website development agreement had been entered into. Here at Virtuoso we can produce a website development agreement that will take in to account issues of, domain ownership, content ownership, development deadlines and even acceptance testing. Investing in a new website is a costly business, therefore don’t run the risk of jeopardising the money you have spent. Always read the terms and conditions of any website developer and if in doubt come and see us. Domain Name Disputes and Cybersquatting – This is a common problem for many new and existing businesses, you look to take your business online and find that your ideal domain name has already been registered. In some instances these registrations are by legitimate entities, however there are many who are simply looking to make money from their investment. The contrasting position to this that we do regularly help clients with is responding to allegations that they do not have the rights to own a website that they have registered. Virtuoso Legal can help you either enforce or protect your position in these matters. We are regularly instructed in WIPO,UDRP and Nominet proceedings. In these matters we have acted for both Claimants and Respondents. We can also act in relation to any court proceedings that seek transfer of a domain name. We have prosecuted and defended court claims relating to domain names. Given that domain names are quickly becoming the most valuable real estate in the modern world we are being instructed more and more on these matters. If you receive a claim or are interested in securing ownership of a domain name get in contact with us. Website Maintenance – We can advise your business on arranging and monitoring the maintenance of your website. It is important that a business includes the ongoing maintenance of its website in any website development agreement. Further you should always check how your website will be supported once you have paid a developer to create it. Virtuoso Legal can negotiate and draft ongoing maintenance agreements. We can also help you take action against a website developer should they fail to properly maintain your website. Quite often we are instructed to help business extricate their website from their developer. You should not be afraid to move away from a developer that does not have your best interests at heart. Contact us if you would like nay advice in this area. Buying and Selling Websites – Due to the high value of domain names it is very common for disputes to arise during the transactions if they are not properly managed. You don’t want to find that you have transferred ownership of your website to someone who has no intention of paying! We can help you negotiating the sale contract and setting up escrow arrangements to ensure that you minimise your risk in these transactions. We can also act as an impartial third party in these transactions to facilitate payment and transfer of the domain. Using Adwords and Adsense – Businesses are seeking every edge they can in the current market to ensure that their website ranks highly on search engines. A large amount of cases has resulted due to misuse of the Adwords and Adsense system. Some businesses have discovered their competitors bidding on their trade marked name in order to drive the price of the service up. Further competitors have often sought to take advantage of the system to rank higher that the trade mark owner. If you feel like your competitors are misusing these systems we can help. Virtuoso has advised many clients on the management of their paid search marketing accounts. We can advise you on the legality of your current strategy as well as helping you take action against anyone who is misusing the system. For advice on any of the issues raised here please contact us.

For more information on WEBSITE SERVICES LEEDS talk to Virtuoso Legal