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International Relations at AEL
31 July 2009 14:52pm
What legal implications are involved when internationalizing a website? My platform is an emerging antiques and collectibles trading site based in germany and wish to take the project abroad. I am struggling to find substantial information online asside from coding advice. Has anybody got some pointers?
Many thanks in advance!
Marvin Goose
Technical Project Manager (MBA, MBCS, CITP, CEng) at Naxtech.com
31 July 2009 21:47pm
I'm not a lawyer, but I do not think there are specific legal implications other than the items sent going through customs, and the distant-selling directives of the EU (if you are selling within Europe). Otherwise German law should cover you just fine.
I hope this helps.
regards,
Denis
www.naxtech.com
Solicitor, Managing Director at Winton & Winton Limited
06 August 2009 12:27pm
Hi Marvin
Just reviewing your query and had a few immediate thoughts.
On the legal side, luckily you are based in Europe where the threshold of consumer rights is high so you may well not need to up your game in that field. Also you should already be complying with the distance selling directive because you are trading online. It seems to me that another key area to consider is the data that you collect from your registered users and where you plan to hold that or have it processed, and what you do with it. This is especially important if you want to go outside the EU because you need the consent of the data subject in order to export the data outside the EU. So, e.g, if you want to host your site in the US you should get permissions from the data subjects to export the data, and even if you don't plan to do that right away it would be worth having t's & c's on your site that cover off that possibility.
On a more practical side, you will probably be considering whether it would be wise to make any changes to the branding of your site to make it accessible for export. It is wise to check up on branding to see whether anyone else is using the name you operate under for anything else in the jurisdictions you are planning to target. Again, getting this right from the start can help to avoid trouble (and costs!) ahead. We recently advised a company who is all set up and ready to go with their hip trendy branding, only to find that a US company was already using the name for their health food business. A quick "google" would have saved them a lot of hassle! Then buying the relevant domains and asserting (even if you don't register at this stage) the trade marks you want to use is the next step.
You might also want to check out the competition in this arena in the UK which is dominated by http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/ via their saleroom http://www.the-saleroom.com/
A key distinction here is that these are live sale-room auctions, not the e-bay variety.
Do let me know if you need any more pointers. I'll watch for more posts;-)
Consultant at Priocept
18 May 2011 10:55am
Marvin,
I've recently written a detailed blog post on the subject of international applications here:
http://priocept.com/2011/05/09/international-software-applications-part-1/
Some conclusions I draw in the post are:
* The concept of “internationalisation” as an activity which takes place at the end of the application development process is misguided. Support for international features should be introduced early in the process, and features required by languages/locales and local markets should drive the design and functionality of the application throughout.
* Ensure your process and tools for managing translations minimize errors and re-work, and involve local markets early in the product lifecycle.
* Understand the impact of segmenting your mobile app versions, and plan for production system changes to support users across multiple time zones.
Hope this helps.
Consultant at Priocept
18 May 2011 11:28am
Apologies, the correct URL is:
http://priocept.com/2011/05/06/international-software-applications-pt-1/