the marks are used for dissimilar products or services” (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, and Kahan). The act however only protects famous trademarks. Marketers must always research what is a protected domain name and/or trademark before beginning to market on-line. There are some simple marketing solutions however. The first is to register the domain name as a trademark. Since trademark disputes usually occur because someone wants to exploit the company, and since the trademark usually comes before the domain name, the company can register both at the same time (University of NSW, Law Journal). Copyright on the Internet Copyright laws are another factor that marketers need to keep in mind. A copyright is defined as “creations capable of being ‘fixed in a tangible medium” (Alschuler, Grossman, Stein, & Kahan). What is most focused on nowadays is copyright of computer software. Courts have been battling, Internet copyright laws and how to apply them to the ever-growing World Wide Web. An example of a new copyright law can be as simple as downloading a program onto a computer. This applies to marketers more closely when dealing with creating web pages. They must be very careful not to place any copyrighted text, graphics, audio, or images on their company’s website. It is extremely easy to download and use any file from the Internet, however even with the millions of websites out there it is still possible to be caught, thus resulting in criminal as well as civil liability. In order to avoid these difficulties do not use “multimedia” unless research has been done ensuring that the material is public domain. Another way to go about using copyrighted material is to ask the web master or company permission to use the “multimedia” material for commercial use. Security on the Internet With the increasing amount of e-commerce everyday online, consumers as more and more questions about the securit...
