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Weaving a Bulletproof Web

By Michael G. McCoy
September 28, 2006

An often-overlooked component of an e-commerce company's intellectual property portfolio is the company Web site. This is something that is true in general for firms of any type, including law firms that advise e-commerce ventures, but it's especially true in the fast-paced world of technology firms, whose primary emphasis is usually core technology in the form of patents or trade secrets. The Web site, as a matter of course, is the most innocuous of assets, but it's an asset, nonetheless, and one of which tech-world denizens should be aware. The job of the general counsel's office, and of lawyers hired to act in that capacity, is to protect this asset.

The Copyright Act of 1976 is the primary component of federal copyright law and protects a wide variety of works, from sound recordings and films to architecture and novels. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to protect such works; the Constitution reserves the ability to 'promote the useful arts' solely to the federal government.

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