Most marketers are ethical and honest, and they would never intentionally break the law. But in the brave new world of online marketing, it is not always entirely clear which laws apply and how to comply with them.
To keep from unintentionally breaking the law, below are some legal regulations that marketers should be aware of and work to comply with.
Copyright Law
Copyright infringement is rampant on the Internet. This is partly due to the ease of copying and reusing content online and partly due to confusion about what works are copyrighted.
To clarify: all original images, videos, songs and written works are automatically copyrighted, and the copyright remains in effect for at least 70 years after the creator's death. The copyright is implied and does not have to be stated or registered.
There are exceptions, though. You can legally use someone else's created work if:
- It is considered "Fair Use." Fair Use means that it is being used for the purpose of educating, archiving, news reporting or commentary. It cannot be used for commercial purposes.
- The copyright holder has declared it to be in the public domain. It is then free to use in any way.
- It is published under a Creative Commons or GNU license. It can then be used for free if you follow the terms of the license, which usually require giving credit to the creator of the work.
- The copyright holder explicitly gives you permission. If you see a photograph or infographic you like, you can always contact the copyright holder and see if they will let you use it for free.
Terms of Use
If you do have permission to use an item, you must still adhere to the terms of use outlined in the licensing agreement. For example, different Creative Commons licenses can have different requirements, such as restrictions on commercial use or on your ability to alter the work. You must follow the terms of use closely to stay legal.
The CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act regulates what you legally can and cannot do in email marketing. The CAN-SPAM requirements include:
- A clear "unsubscribe" feature. Every email must have an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribe requests must be processed within 10 days.
- A physical or mailing address must be listed within the email.
- Clear labeling. Subject lines cannot be misleading, and adult content must be identified as such.
- Sending behavior. Emails cannot be sent through an open relay or sent to illegally harvested email addresses.
FTC Advertising Guidelines
Advertisements must generally be identifiable as ads. This means that if it is not plainly obvious to consumers that they are looking at a paid advertisement, the ad must be labeled as such.
This has cropped up in the online world through social media and reputation management. If someone is getting paid to post a testimonial or endorsement, the post must mention the fact that the company paid for it. It doesn't matter that the testimonial is true and genuine; it must still be labeled if it was paid for.
Consumer Reporting Laws
There are restrictions on how you can use data that's gathered from social media. Primarily, this means you cannot sell gathered data about your social media followers. Doing so might cause you to be considered a consumer reporting agency and fall under regulations governing how such data is collected and managed.
Oftentimes, violations of these laws go unnoticed by both the authorities and the parties involved. However, marketers should still actively strive to stay within the law and remain above reproach in all they do.
* Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
