Common Legal Forms Used by Texas-Based Internet Businesses

Internet-based businesses, whether affiliate marketing, e-commerce sites or some other form, often have a need for some basic legal documents. Some of the common legal documents are:

–Affiliate Agreement

–Consulting Agreement for Website Design

–Content License Agreement

–Domain Name Sales Agreement

–Internet Linking Agreement

Affiliate Agreement

One of the most effective ways for an e-commerce retailer to increase sales is to start an affiliate marketing system. An Affiliate Agreement allows an E-Retailer and an Affiliate to enter into an agreement whereby the Affiliate's website will generate sales of E-Retailer products and the Affiliate will receive a commission on qualified purchases of those products. While there are numerous software systems to handle these arrangement, there is a still a need to have a written contractual arrangement so that the retailer and the affiliate to each be protected in the relationship. An Affiliate Agreement can also be customized to allow the parties to share revenue from advertising and sponsorships that appear on the content pages.

Consulting Agreement for Website Design

Even affiliate marketers need web site design help. Rather than just pay a designer and hope that the website owner and designer are on the same page, a Website Design Consulting Agreement will help set expectations and clearly set forth the services to be performed for the agreed upon charges.

Content License Agreement

It is often difficult to create interesting website content. Interesting content can also often be found on another site. Rather than infringe another's copyright, a website owner could license another's content so that it can legally used on the website. A Content License Agreement is used to license content from a publisher for use on a web site. Common provisions include copyright indemnification, compensation for the use, scope of the license agreement, and warranty provisions.

Domain Names Sales Agreement

Domain names have become quite valuable business assets. Often a well thought out domain name or a domain name with lots of organic traffic can have a significant value. Sales of domain names should be documented with a legal agreement as they are assets of entity that owns them. A Domain Names Sales Agreement can used to transfer a domain name between individuals or between two business entities such as corporations, partnerships or limited liability companies. It should set forth in explicit terms exactly what consideration (cash or trade) is being paid in exchange for the domain name so that there is no challenge to the sale later.

Internet Linking Agreement

One of the key factors in improving a website's page rank is through a linking strategy whereby a website owner tries to get other websites to link to theirs. In general, hypertext links between sites do not require an agreement. However, certain types of links may create disputes including image links, particularly where the image is a trademark from the linked site; deep links that bypass the site's home page; links that result in framing; and inlining links that only pull certain elements from a site, such as an image. An internet linking agreement can be used to avoid disputes over any of these types of links.

These types of contracts may be helpful for Texas-based internet businesses. Each will help define the relationships between the parties and their respective expectations. Rather that shy away from contracts, website owners should use them.

If you need legal help in setting up your online business, contact the experienced Texas internet business lawyers of Peterson Law Group at 979-703-7014.