Legal Question in Business Law in Massachusetts
Internet merchant liability
I am launching a web site that allows buyers and sellers to meet to sell/buy content services. My revenue comes from seller rental fees for the services provided on the web site, which include hosting of the buyers� services/content, credit card processing, and advertising. After the seller pays these fees, their content is offered on the web site for buyers to purchase. No physical goods exchange hands when a buyer purchases � services are all delivered online.
A good analogy is a movie rental service in which a vendor provides a site that allows a seller (movie producer) to sell their movie to buyers (movie viewers). Buyers would then purchase these movies and view them online.
Similar to my movie rental example, I monitor but cannot fully regulate the content provided by a buyer. I plan to work with a law firm to produce a license agreement that a buyer must agree to prior to viewing the service/content, which makes clear the fact my company cannot take legal responsibility for the content provided by the sellers.
So here is my question:
Does the fact I am actually being a merchant for a buyer/seller transaction expose me to any additional liability for the services/content provided by the seller?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Internet merchant liability
The short answer is probably. Depending upon how you are acting as the merchant, yes. If you are acting more like Amazon and renting store space and providing certain services for a fee your potential liability would be less likely as to liability for content.
You would need to be able to take people out of your system for violating certain codes of ethics or actions much like ebay does with volume sellers.
Please feel free to contact me Monday if you have more questions.
Re: Internet merchant liability
The issue of liability with respect to this transaction is dependent upon whether or not, and, if so, to what extent, you are deemed to be an agent of either the buyer, seller or both.;) The answer is extremely fact specific. Please feel free to contact me direct for a free initial consult based upon the facts of your specific situation;))
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