Every business has it’s own unique DNA which makes it special.  Intellectual Property protection provides the means by which you can convert your ideas into valuable property, fortifying your strategic vision and key assets like your brand equity.

Whether you are a blogger, engaged in ecommerce, publishing ebooks or engaged in making money online through article writing, affiliate or internet marketing,  you would be aware the internet has opened up a whole new world of opportunties and dangers.

The danger and opportunity largely derives from the fact that the regulations and the ability to enforce them has fallen way behind the pace of technological development.  The result is a wild west like environment where online publishers largely act without any regard to the multiplicity of laws which technically govern their operations.

The response to spam, privacy law violations, security threats, cybercrime, and intellectual property violations has to involve an understanding not merely of the laws of different jurisdictions. It also requires some level of understanding of the technology,  the culture of an emerging and rapidly evolving internet culture and the various economic models being adopted to exploit the infrastructure of the internet.

Very few traditional legal experts don’t have the technical knowledge, an understanding of the economic models used on the internet, the architecture of the interenet, it’s culture, and the legal systems of other jurisdictions.   There are different kinds of IT experts possessing very detailed understanding of programming or internet technologies, however  their understanding of the law is imperfect.

This website is intended is a growing repository of knowledge and information to survive in this maze of overlapping jurisdictions and mega-corporations such as Google and Ebay.  In this digital economy there is a collision of law with terms of service and End Use Licence Agreements which havn’t been entirely resolved. There are also Treaties, Memorandums of Understandings and other inter-governmental bodies and organisations which have emerged in a panicked attempt to control this mass of threat and opportunity we know as the internet.

The main focus of this website is on providing information on copyright, trademark and other intellectual property related law, with a growing emphasis on canvassing internet related legal issues.     The internet is a two edged sword, making intellectual property potentially many times more valuable, but also makes it more vulnerable to being stolen on a massive scale. There are a swarm of means of protecting intellectual property, including  technological and legal means. It is important to understand their strengths and weaknesses, costs and limitations in order to decide upon the best combination of measures to use for a particular strategy.

The ‘law of the internet’ or cyberlaw is still in it’s infancy as the various jurisdictions arrive at political and legal solutions in relation to the liability of search engines and other online intermediaries and technologies to respond to ways of protecting their constituents.   A considerable portion of this website is therefore focused on providing an understanding of legal protections in the area of intellectual property, media and communications law,  defamation law of relevance to online sellers, publishers, internet marketers, advertisers, internet content hosts, and internet service providers.

Some jurisdictions  have developed cyberspecific legislation but all have to fit all of their laws together into a structure that functions.  Legislation and important precedents in case law cannot be ignored and the way in which they operate in an international marketplace.

The Internet has revolutionised the way we  interact,  how we buy and sell,  distribute  and exchange  information and knowledge.  There  is no single law that we can turn to resolve internet related intellectual property and other online legal issues such as obscenity, cybercrime and censorship.  There are many people who want to censor the internet for various reasons, to protect reputations, moral standards, prevent crime and maintaining political control.

The advent of the internet has given rise to  complex concepts and problems in the areas of advertising and marketing law, consumer protection law,  online contracts.

Although this website’s primary focus is on Australian intellectual property law,  it is recognised that the technology is designed so that it is  indifferent to geographical boundaries and problems aren’t necessarily confined to discrete geographical locations.  As Lawrence Lessig commented the internet treats censorship as a malfunction and easily and deftly re-routes around it with it’s robust backbone designed to survive nuclear attack with minimal disruption.

* Disclaimer:  This site is intended to operate purely as an informational  resource, a general overview of intellectual property and other related legal issues arising online.   It isn’t a substitute for professional legal advice from a lawyer certified to provide legal advice in your jurisdiction.  Neither is it intended to create an attorney-client  relationship.   The law varies in each jurisdiction and we do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any material you read here.