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Imagine receiving a demand letter from someone you have never met under a law from a state you've never been to. The claim? Your website improperly tracked their online activity.
This may sound far-fetched, but many Floridians are increasingly facing these types of claims. Fortunately, a thoughtfully designed website and well-drafted documents can support legal compliance and reduce or avoid website-related disputes.
Your website may benefit from some or all of the following:
• Terms of Use – Establishes rules for anyone who accesses/uses the website, even if they do not ultimately become a customer. It may address ownership of site content, acceptable (and unacceptable) conduct, disclaimers, and dispute procedures.
• Terms of Sale/Service – Governs purchases, subscriptions, memberships, renewals, refunds, cancellations, warranties, delivery, and service obligations and limitations.
• Privacy Policy – Discloses the personal information that the website and any third-party tools may collect and how that information is used, maintained, and disclosed. Privacy Policies are generally recommended to comply with applicable privacy laws.
• Cookie Opt-Ins/Tracking Notices – Discloses the information that different tracking tools (cookies, pixels, etc.) might collect. This is currently a very active area of litigation. It is especially important to make sure users are not tracked until you obtain their consent.
• User-Generated Content Policy – Important for websites that permit reviews, comments, photos, or other user submissions. It establishes rights for the website to use submitted content and supports protections under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against copyright infringement claims.
• ADA Accessibility Statement– You may include this to describe accessibility features and provide a method to report accessibility issues. This is an active area of litigation, and so even without a statement, you may want to make your website accessible to users with disabilities, including image descriptions and keyboard navigation.
No single package fits every website. A simple informational site may need only a few basic documents, while an online marketplace, subscription platform, SaaS product, or interactive community may require a more comprehensive set.
Also, just having these documents is not enough. To improve enforceability, users should have to affirmatively accept them, such as by clicking to agree. Simply posting terms on a website may not be enough.
Good website documents do not just occupy space at the bottom of a webpage. They help manage risk, shape expectations, and defend your business when challenges arise. That is the difference between fine print and real protection.
Peyton Kresucher
Peyton Kreuscher and Elizabeth (Liz) Stamoulis are attorneys that focus on Intellectual Property. They can be contacted at [email protected] and [email protected] or 941-366-4800.
Elizabeth (Liz) Stamoulis