E-Commerce and Web-Based Businesses

Montgomery McCracken represents companies and people involved in web-based businesses and e-commerce.  We provide counsel on the new legal issues that the Internet presents and, when necessary, are fully prepared to pursue or defend litigation.

We counsel our clients regarding:           

• intellectual property rights (cybersquatting/trademark infringement/dilution)
• domain-name disputes
• free speech and defamation
• linking and access questions
• privacy issues
• false advertising
• trade libel
• incorporation
• mergers and acquisitions
• joint ventures
• corporate structure
• procurement
• financing

We also counsel our clients on preventive measures that can head off disputes later.  For instance, we have developed "Key Questions Concerning Your Web Page" to help the client evaluate its own e-commerce and technology platform.  If you would like more information or a copy of "Key Questions Concerning Your Web Page," please send an e-mail to  jmishkin@mmwr.com. 

Representative clients include:

• web-site developers
• commercial and family businesses with domain name issues
• software publishers protecting their intellectual property
• new media encountering First Amendment and privacy issues
• start-up companies
• national e-commerce entities
• nonprofit organizations

In recent years we have achieved significant victories for our e-commerce and web-based business clients.  One of our partners was a member of the ABA Task Force on Alternate Dispute Resolution for E-Commerce (http://www.law.washington.edu/ABA-eADR/).

Representative engagements and activities include:

• domain name dispute for a major company whose competitor had registered confusingly similar URLs;
• counseling companies on potential defamation claims arising from online communications; and
• representation of companies victimized by anonymous "cybersmears": online messages posted using pseudonyms that defamed a company and executives. We succeeded in identifying the real authors and stopping them.

We are committed to providing the highest quality and most cost-effective legal services.  Our dedication to client service emphasizes teamwork, creativity, flexibility and a timely response to our clients' needs. 

For more information on how the E-Commerce & Web-Based Business practice can help you succeed in the ever-changing world of cyberspace, please contact Jeremy D. Mishkin, Chair, E-Commerce & Web-based Businesses practice, at 215-772-7246, or  email at jmishkin@mmwr.com.