A Practical Guide to Business, Law and the Internet
- Article 48 of 77
- Information Age, September 2002
A Practical Guide to Business, Law and the Internet is a relatively accessible guide to the laws, treaties and cases that make up what little there is of Internet legal standards around the world. Covering everything from copyright to domain name disputes, the book at least provides an overview of some of the issues involved in delivering and consuming content over the Internet
There is an old saying in legal circles: “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.” Those fools about to represent themselves in Internet-related disputes now have a new handbook from Peter Adediran, Internet lawyer.
A Practical Guide to Business, Law and the Internet is a guide to the laws, treaties and cases that make up what little there is of Internet legal standards around the world. Covering everything from copyright to domain name disputes, the book provides an overview of some of the issues involved in delivering and consuming content over the Internet.
But unfortunately the book is far too basic for any lawyer, and would really serve as little more than a starting point and resource list for any legal professional looking to branch out into web disputes. Its coverage of case law is perfunctory and the various examples it provides of acts of parliament are merely edited highlights.
For the lay reader, meanwhile, the book is overly complicated and dull, with no real concessions made to readability. Moreover, the do-it-yourself contracts provided in the appendices and on an accompanying CD-ROM could actually do more harm than good. These are positioned as an inexpensive means of legal protection for companies inexperienced in the Internet. However, anyone serious about protecting their business against lawsuits and intellectual property disputes might be better advised to hire a lawyer, rather than fill in the blanks on a contract found in the back of a £25 book.
A Practical Guide to Business, Law and the Internet is certainly a good taster for any legal professional who wishes to know if there is real money to be made out of the Internet. It is also a potentially lucrative opportunity for those lawyers fortunate enough to encounter in a court of law a lay person that attempts to fight their case on the strength of 'expertise' they have gained from this book.