Website Terms of Use

We can draft these for your website or review and amend your existing terms of use to ensure that they are legally compliant and are appropriate for your website.

Website terms of use should deal with access and use of the website as well as limiting the liability of the business to the user.  Website terms of use should also include terms which prevent unauthorised use of or access to the website, unauthorised reproduction of website content, detail unacceptable user behaviour such as introducing viruses, and protect the website owners’ intellectual property rights in the website.

Listed below are some of the provisions we suggest including:

• Acceptance: It is important to ensure that the terms are accepted by the user. Ideally, the user should be required to tick a box to symbolise that he has read and accepts the terms of use.  However, most website operators take the commercial view that this hinders the users’ experience of the website.  As an alternative, website owners should include a prominent notice on the homepage stating that, by using the site, users are deemed to have accepted the website terms of use.  A link to the website terms of use should be accessible on every page of the website.
• Permitted use: the terms of use should clearly specify what the user can do with the content of the website. A clear statement should be included which states that all rights (including intellectual property rights) remain the property of the website owner at all times.
• Upload rules: if the website user is permitted to upload content to the website (e.g. post blogs or pictures) then certain obligations should be imposed on the user.  For instance, the user should not be able to post any illegal or harmful content or breach a third party’s intellectual property rights.  If content can be uploaded by the user, the website operator may want to have a separate website acceptable use policy to control the type of content uploaded and limit its liability further. The ownership/rights in intellectual property rights in the uploaded content should also be made clear.
• Liability: A website operator should try to limit its liability in relation to the use by users. Also, in relation to uploaded content, the website operator should impose indemnities on the website user if the content breaches another’s intellectual property rights.
• Linking: a website operator should consider whether it will permit a third party website providing a link to its site. If linking is permitted then terms should either be built in to the terms of use or a separate linking licence should be available on the website.
• Viruses: the terms should state that there is no guarantee that the website will be free from viruses and that it is the user’s responsibility to have appropriate virus protection. Further, the terms should clearly state that the user must not introduce viruses to the website and doing so would be a breach of the terms (and a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990).
• Disclaimer: the website operator should, insofar as is possible, disclaim all liability for the content and performance of the website. If the content is incorrect or out-of-date the website operator does not want to be liable to the user if it is relied upon.

• Data protection: if the website operator is collecting data from users of the website, the terms of use should deal with the collection and use of such data.  If data is being collected then it is advisable that a separate privacy policy is available on the website.

Our ethos is to provide our clients with an alternative to the major regional and national firms by offering high quality legal advice from highly experienced, specialist solicitors, but on a much more cost-effective basis.

We work closely with our clients to ensure that we meet their expectations both in terms of their objectives for a particular piece of work and in relation to costs. We are easy to deal with, clear in our advice and understand that a common sense approach is often required. As standard practice, we give our clients an estimate of the costs involved in undertaking any piece of work at the outset. We can then provide costs updates on a regular basis. In addition, where appropriate, we are happy to discuss other pricing models (for example, fixed fees and retainer arrangements) if that is helpful to you.

We have vast experience in drafting website terms of use for businesses and will ensure that the terms of use are appropriate for your website.

Our team of Commercial Solicitors are ranked Top Tier - Tier 1 by the independent Legal 500 directory.  In addition, Partners in our team are recommended by the Legal 500. Therefore, you can be reassured that you will deal with some of the best Commercial Solicitors in the country.