Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Affiliate Program

You need to be very careful with tracking technologies (all 'net affiliate programs use this tech in one form or another). There are a number of patents out there covering these techs -- Linkshare, most obviously. In terms of the Terms of Use, etc.: it is often penny wise and pound foolish to do these yourself.

Re: Affiliate Program

If you are creating a situation where you are offering another party through a general advertisement some form of compensation for directing customers to your site, it is very important to minimize any potential liability on your part by utilizing some form of written agreement.

Using an affiliates agreement, to which a prospective affiliate would agree prior to "partnering" with you would be a first and important step.

I would also suggest having a small web based application form that would require the prospective affiliate to enter in some basic contact information and then after reading and clicking on their acceptance of the agreement, provide them with the referral link to put on their site.

I can also assure you that more times than not, it is what is left out of any agreement rather than what is in an agreement that usually is the cause of disputes.

While you can try to come up with you own document, spending a few hundred dollars to have an attorney draft one for you can save you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future in court costs.

If paying an attorney is an issue, you could come up with a rough draft yourself and provide that to an attorney to review/edit for you. Oftentimes, this requires less time (and less billing) than having the attorney draft it from scratch. But, if you expect you will generate more than a few hundred dollars in revenue, then the cost for an attorney to handle this basic, yet critical, first step for you is really nothing with respect to the big picture.

Moreover, an attorney may also be able to help you with setting up a corporate structure, vendor and client accounts and agreements and provide you with advice that can help grow your business. Indeed, these aspects of retaining an attorney are not necessarily required from the start of your business but should be considered. Also, even if you do not retain the attorney to actually handle these processes, just picking his brain to get an idea of what you need to do and what you can do on your own would be invaluable.

Lastly, you said you would be tracking the linking history in order to pay their commissions. Unless you develop the technology yourself, you would likely need to license this tracking technology or subscribe to a hosting service that provides it. Again, an attorney can help you with any of these issues either by making the arrangements directly or providing you with the proper guidance.

If you are interested in discussing any of this further, I am available for a free initial consultation. I have over 10 years of experience with Internet and computer related legal issues including drafting, reviewing and enforcing on-line agreements as well as over 20 years experience in technology.

For more information about my qualifications and contact information, please visit my website at: www.computorney.com.

I hope this information helped and would be happy to provide more assistance if you would like.