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Identification
and Analysis of Legal Issues
&
Identification of Specific Legal Notices
Pertaining to the Koro Sun Web Site
In order for korosunresort.com to insure that they are operating within the parameters of the law it is important to analyze any possible legal issues before launch of the site. Fortunately for Koro Sun this is a fairly easy task as the site does not have many legal issues to adhere to. This does not mean that Koro Sun should all together ignore the legal implications of their web site. There are also specific legal notices that need to be identified. Once the notices are identified then the resort can hire a lawyer to actually write the notices and post them on the site.
Legal Notices
Koro Sun Resort has a number of legal notices that they could post on their web site. The resort expects to generate revenue from the users that visit the site, Koro Sun should inform the users what information they are collecting, and what the resort's policies and views are on privacy and copyright. They should also notify their users about the accuracy of information displayed on the web site pages.
The first notice that Koro Sun should post is a privacy policy. Koro Sun Resort monitors its web traffic and uses this information to market to different customers. Koro Sun also collects information through forms on the site that contain names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and also their interests. Koro Sun Resort should notify these customers that this information is not sold or given away to other organizations or customers. Users want to know that their information is kept in strict confidence. The customers also should be notified that the information that is being collected is used solely by Koro Sun Resort for marketing purposes and not sold or distributed. This will help to make the customer more comfortable with divulging their personal information.
Koro Sun Resort uses many images on the web site that are copyrighted by the resort or by other photographers. A copyright notice should be supplied detailing the rights of the image producers and of Koro Sun Resort. If Koro Sun would like to provide images to the press and travel industry for publication they should make sure that they own the publishing and usage rights to those images. Many photographers will allow their images to be published for no fee as long as they receive a photo credit. Koro Sun should also state in this notice that the images on the web site are copyrighted and cannot be used with out permission. They may want to provide a press release page where the travel press and industry could download pre approved images and content. The design of the sight should also be credited to the creator and copyrighted.
There is no US trademark for either "Koro Sun Resort" or "Korosunresort.com". Koro Sun Resort should apply for a trademark for both of these names. Once they have these trademarks they could place a Trademark notice on the site stating that the Koro Sun Resort name and logo could not be used without prior written permission. Koro Sun Resort does have a Trademark for their Rainforest Spa and places the appropriate TM symbol after the name. They should explain in a legal notice that this name is trademarked and cannot be used for any other product or service.
A disclaimer of responsibility would be appropriate for Koro Sun Resort to post on their web site. Koro Sun Resort is giving out information on some potentially dangerous sports such as scuba diving. By notifying the user that Koro Sun accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or for updating the information supplied, they can avoid potential legal actions from information a customer received from the web site. The inclusion of a disclaimer notice for links to the site and from the site and the information supplied by those sites would be appropriate to insure no legal problems. Koro Sun Resort has no control over which sites link to their site. They also have no control on what information is displayed on those sites and should disclaim responsibility.
Koro Sun Resort does post their reservation policy and explains what amount of refund a guest is entitled to if they cancel a reservation. As Koro Sun is in a country with an unstable political situation, they may not want to post information that references the coup of 1999. However, as counterproductive to commerce as it may seem, Koro Sun Resort should consider their obligation to notify guests if travel becomes unsafe again in the future.
Legal Issues
In order for Koro Sun to insure that they are operating with in the parameters of the law in relationship to their web site, it is important to analyze any possible legal issues before the launch of the site. Fortunately for Koro Sun this is a fairly easy task as the site does not have many legal issues to adhere to. This does not mean however that Koro Sun should all together ignore the legal implications of their web site.
Koro Sun is a resort situated in Fiji in the South Pacific. The main offices and the marketing office are in Ridgeway, Colorado, USA. The wholesaler who books the reservations is in Los Angeles, California, USA. The server that hosts the Koro Sun Resort web site is in Independence, Colorado, USA. Koro Sun Resort is dealing with international as well as US territory and falls under a number of jurisdictions.
However, Koro Sun Resort does not sell anything over the Internet, nor does it offer any kind of peer-to-peer file sharing. The site is basically a brochure site. When Koro Sun Resort begins to offer reservations and/or sells items over the Internet, then they will be subject to the laws and regulations of many jurisdictions. For now the resort is not interested in doing either of these things for fear of the monopolistic wholesaler's wrath.
The major legal issue that Koro Sun currently needs to be concerned about is privacy. There is a slight concern with First Amendment issues as there is a place for users to express themselves. There are currently no serious concerns with trademark or copyright although this is something that needs to be considered. The domain name korosunresort.com has been owned by the resort for over two years and there has been no legal issue with the name to this point. This virtually eliminates any future legal question with the domain name. Jurisdiction, as discussed above, could be an issue in the future if they move to an online reservation system. As the owners of the resort have explained this is years away, and due to the constantly changing nature of Internet law, should be discussed when the online reservation process is being implemented.
As discussed above privacy is an important issue for Koro Sun due to the fact that the resort collects information on line. The resort monitors its' web traffic and uses this information for marketing purposes. The resort also requests information through forms on the site, and this information is also used for marketing purposes. While Koro Sun does not, and has no plans to, sell this information it is important for the user of the site to know this..
There is a First Amendment legal issue that needs to be addressed. Since the site will allow people to display images of previous dives Koro Sun needs to be aware of the legal ramifications. Allowing people to post images without supervision could create legal problems. First amendment rights would have to be addressed. Would Koro Sun allow a picture of a naked women diving? How about someone diving with a sign that read, "The JM Cousteau resort is #@$%!!!". Obviously both of these examples are not the type of thing that Koro Sun wants attached to their brand. Instead of a unsupervised bulletin board site, Koro Sun should view the images before posting them on the site. With wise attention paid to what actually gets posted Koro Sun could eliminate any First Amendment issues. Here it is also important to post a notice that this is what Koro Sun is doing and not all submitted pictures will be displayed. The only issue with this is that if Koro Sun does post an inappropriate image and there develops a legal problem, all the responsibility will be squarely placed on their shoulders. It is vital that Koro Sun use good sense in posting other people's images.
As to concerns with copyright and trademark, Koro Sun needs to address these issues. Since Koro Sun will be posting images that are produced by other people, there is a specific threat of copyright violation. The images that Koro Sun is using on the site need to be there with the permission of the individual that created the image. Whether these images are sent to the site for use free of charge or are images that the resort has paid for in order to market Koro Sun, the proper credit has to go to the photographer. It would be a copyright violation not to do so, and would present legal problems.
As to trademark issues there really are none. The only issue that might be brought up is the fact that Koro Sun might want to do some trademarking of their own. Koro Sun would be be well advised to have a trademark for the Koro Sun name. Having a service mark for the resort would stress the uniqueness of Koro Sun to the visitors. It would also reduce any chance of someone else using the name for their purposes.
Conclusion
These are the primary legal issues that korosunresort.com needs to concern itself with, and the legal notices they should post. It is also very important that in the future a lawyer is consulted before any changes are made to the site. For instance any type of e-commerce will require a thorough reexamination of legal issues in order to ensure that there are no problems with jurisdiction. For now, if Koro Sun has the proper notices and screens the images on their site (for proper copyright and content), then there should be no legal problems associated with the site.