Interesting multi-piece article looks at different issues to consider regarding your corporate brands, copyrights, identity and reputation in this brave new online world. Issues addressed include: meta taggers, cybersmear campaigns, cybersquatting and antidomains, anonymity rights, digital and web rigths management, and digital watermarking.
“Though companies may want to keep tabs on message board and chat room blather, too closely monitoring forums on sites such as Yahoo and Raging Bull may actually make a company responsible for the information in them, says Blake Bell, senior knowledge management counsel at law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and editor-in-chief of online newsletter CyberSecuritiesLaw. If a company establishes a presence on a forum either by linking to it or consistently monitoring it, the SEC may reasonably expect that company to refute all false claims that appear there. Companies should also refrain from responding to allegations in these chat rooms. If they reveal material information – news that could affect the stock price – when responding to a cybersmear, they may run afoul of the SEC’s Fair Disclosure regulation. ‘The best thing to do is ignore it,’ says Bell.”
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