Legal Issues of Corporate

Communication in an Online World

Steve Kuncewicz

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Legal Issues of Corporate Communication in an Online World

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Legal Issues of Corporate

Communication in an Online World
STEVE KUNCEWICZ

Published by

In association with

Contents
Executive summary..............................................................................................................IX
About the author................................................................................................................XI
Dedication........................................................................................................................XIII
Foreword...........................................................................................................................XV
Part One: Theory and practice
Chapter 1: The corporate communications landscape A brave new world......................... 3
Web 2.0 and social media..................................................................................................... 5
Whats next?......................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2: Social media Is it that important?.................................................................. 11
The Trafigura scandal........................................................................................................... 11
The Jan Moir outcry............................................................................................................. 13
Twitter becomes a respected journalistic medium................................................................. 15
Chapter 3: Opportunities and risks.................................................................................... 19
Doing business online.......................................................................................................... 19
The conversation thats happening without you................................................................... 20
Images on websites.............................................................................................................. 22
Part Two: Employee communications and the law
Chapter 4: E-mail Instant liability?.................................................................................. 27
E-mail versus hard copy versus conversation.......................................................................... 28
E-mail Legal risks.............................................................................................................. 28
Managing the risk Policies................................................................................................. 29
Summary............................................................................................................................. 32
Stop press Gosden v Lifeline Project Ltd ET/2802731/2009, 28 July 2010........................... 33
Chapter 5: Employee monitoring The control panel........................................................ 35
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 35
Data protection and monitoring............................................................................................ 36

III

Contents

Common law...................................................................................................................... 39
Electronic communications and monitoring policies................................................................ 41
Chapter 6: Employees and social media............................................................................ 43
Is it that much of a risk?....................................................................................................... 43
Pros and cons...................................................................................................................... 45
Legal issues......................................................................................................................... 48
Where do we go from here?................................................................................................. 56
Creating a social media policy Key considerations............................................................... 58
Part Three: External communications and the law
Chapter 7: The Advertising Standards Authority and the CAP Code................................... 65
The CAP Code Introduction............................................................................................... 67
What does the CAP Code cover?.......................................................................................... 68
What doesnt the CAP Code cover?...................................................................................... 68
The rules............................................................................................................................. 69
Status of the CAP Code and compliance............................................................................... 73
Sanctions............................................................................................................................ 73
Overview............................................................................................................................ 74
Case study: Ryanair............................................................................................................. 74
Conclusions........................................................................................................................ 76
Chapter 8: Other issues in advertising law........................................................................ 79
Business to consumer........................................................................................................... 79
Business to business............................................................................................................. 84
General legal considerations................................................................................................ 87
Internal policies, processes and guidelines............................................................................. 93
Clearance checklist.............................................................................................................. 94
Part Four: Social media, brands and reputation
Chapter 9: Brands and domains........................................................................................ 99
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 99
Brands and the law............................................................................................................ 101
Chapter 10: Unregistered trade marks and passing-off................................................. 103
Passing-off defined............................................................................................................. 103
Domain names Cybersquatting, typosquatting and gripe sites........................................... 106
How distinctive does a domain name have to be to be protectable under passing-off?........... 108
Domain name disputes...................................................................................................... 109
Domain names: A cautionary tale....................................................................................... 110
Damages.......................................................................................................................... 111

IV

Legal Issues of Corporate Communication in an Online World

Remedies.......................................................................................................................... 112
Passing-off on the World Wide Web where are we now?.................................................... 112
Chapter 11: Registered trade marks................................................................................ 115
Why register a trade mark?................................................................................................ 115
What is a registered trade mark?........................................................................................ 117
Grounds for refusing registration......................................................................................... 117
Comparative advertising..................................................................................................... 120
Chapter 12: Trade mark enforcement and infringement.................................................. 123
Infringement...................................................................................................................... 123
Who can be sued?............................................................................................................ 125
Defences to infringement.................................................................................................... 127
Remedies.......................................................................................................................... 129
How to avoid infringement................................................................................................. 129
Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 132
Chapter 13: Defamation................................................................................................. 133
Defamation nation?........................................................................................................... 133
Who can sue?................................................................................................................... 134
What a claimant must prove............................................................................................... 134
What is publication?........................................................................................................ 141
Reference to the claimant Identification............................................................................. 144
The difference between libel and slander............................................................................. 145
Limitation.......................................................................................................................... 145
Defences........................................................................................................................... 146
Contentious and tactical considerations............................................................................... 151
Remedies.......................................................................................................................... 153
Chapter 14: What makes internet libel so difficult to deal with? Practical points.............. 157
Identification...................................................................................................................... 157
Stop press Tweet in haste, repent at leisure........................................................................ 160
Stop press The Defamation Bill: A libel law for the 21st century?........................................ 161
Part Five: Copyright in the online environment
Chapter 15: Introduction to copyright.............................................................................. 167
Copyright defined.............................................................................................................. 168
Which works can be protected?.......................................................................................... 169
Copyright in context: Website and social network content..................................................... 180
Chapter 16: Authorship, ownership and duration............................................................ 181
Authorship and ownership.................................................................................................. 181
Who owns copyright?......................................................................................................... 181

Contents

Duration of copyright......................................................................................................... 185

What are the rights of a copyright owner?........................................................................... 185
Chapter 17: Copyright infringement................................................................................ 187
Primary infringement.......................................................................................................... 187
Checklist Primary infringement: Is there a case?................................................................ 188
Linking, scraping, framing and other web-specific infringements............................................ 192
Secondary infringement...................................................................................................... 194
Permitted acts and defences to infringement......................................................................... 195
Remedies for copyright infringement.................................................................................... 198
Damages What can I get?............................................................................................... 199
Will internet service providers pull the plug?........................................................................ 201
Chapter 18: Conclusions Where next?.......................................................................... 203
Part Six: Privacy, data protection and confidentiality
Chapter 19: Privacy......................................................................................................... 209
Development of the law of protection of personal information............................................... 209
When can a claimant bring action for breach of privacy?..................................................... 211
Where do we go from here?............................................................................................... 212
Stop press Phone hacking................................................................................................ 212
Stop press Privacy, super-injunctions and social media....................................................... 215
Chapter 20: Data protection........................................................................................... 221
Privacy issues in context...................................................................................................... 221
The Data Protection Act 1998............................................................................................. 224
Personal data.................................................................................................................... 225
How can personal data be processed?................................................................................ 228
Subject access requests...................................................................................................... 234
Exceptions......................................................................................................................... 237
Privacy policies and collecting user data.............................................................................. 238
Data collection over the internet......................................................................................... 239
Sanctions for breach of the 1998 Act.................................................................................. 240
Civil remedies for breach of the 1998 Act........................................................................... 242
Conclusions...................................................................................................................... 242
Chapter 21: Confidentiality and the law.......................................................................... 243
What are the requirements to bring an action for breach of confidence?................................ 243
Remedies for breach.......................................................................................................... 246
Defences........................................................................................................................... 246
Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 247

VI

Legal Issues of Corporate Communication in an Online World

Part Seven: Criminal content The online remit of criminal law

Chapter 22: Introduction................................................................................................. 251
The offences...................................................................................................................... 254
Limits of liability................................................................................................................. 254
Chapter 23: Harassment................................................................................................. 257
What is harassment?.......................................................................................................... 257
Penalties............................................................................................................................ 258
Cautionary tales................................................................................................................ 258
Practical points.................................................................................................................. 259
Chapter 24: Obscenity.................................................................................................... 261
What is obscene?............................................................................................................ 261
Who can be liable?........................................................................................................... 261
Penalties............................................................................................................................ 261
Practical tips...................................................................................................................... 263
Chapter 25: Incitement of racial hatred........................................................................... 265
What is racial hatred?...................................................................................................... 265
The offences...................................................................................................................... 265
Penalties............................................................................................................................ 266
Practical tips...................................................................................................................... 266
Cautionary tales................................................................................................................ 267
Chapter 26: Improper uses of public electronic communications networks....................... 269
What is improper use of a public electronic communications network?................................ 269
Penalties............................................................................................................................ 270
Cautionary tales................................................................................................................ 270
Practical tips...................................................................................................................... 272
Chapter 27: Contempt of court....................................................................................... 275
What is contempt of court?................................................................................................. 275
Content likely to give rise to contempt proceedings.............................................................. 277
When are proceedings active?.......................................................................................... 278
When do proceedings become inactive?........................................................................... 279
Defences........................................................................................................................... 279
Practical points.................................................................................................................. 280
Stop press Facebook juror jailed for contempt of court...................................................... 281
Chapter 28: Unfair commercial practices......................................................................... 283
Penalties............................................................................................................................ 284
Time limits......................................................................................................................... 284
Practical points.................................................................................................................. 284

VII

Contents

Chapter 29: Malicious communications........................................................................... 285

What are malicious communications?................................................................................. 285
A cautionary tale............................................................................................................... 285
Application of the Act......................................................................................................... 286
Part Eight: Appendices
Appendix 1: Sample e-mail policy................................................................................... 291
Appendix 2: Sample communications and social media policy......................................... 295
Index.............................................................................................................................. 303

VIII

Executive summary
Ill start by making an admission, and
one which I think is fairly obvious: Im not
a trained marketer, business developer or
communications professional. Those that
are may think differently, but my starting
point in sitting down to write this book was
to fall back on a clich which Ive come
across when working with professionals in
all of the aforementioned areas
stakeholders. Thinking that it might have
a more complicated meaning than the
natural and ordinary (concepts with which
libel lawyers are very familiar), I did the
honourable thing and ran for the dictionary:
A person or group that has an investment,
share or interest in something, as a business
or industry.1
Straightforward enough. From there I
looked into the concept in the context of
business and came upon the concepts of
primary and secondary stakeholders, i.e.
those without whom business cant exist
and those without whom it can. As part
of the ongoing struggle to stay on topic,
Ill focus on what I believe to be the most
important stakeholders in any business
audience (but not in any specific order
of importance):

Owners;
Managers;
Staff;
Customers;
The public;
Competitors; and
The government.

Yes, this is based on stakeholder marketing

and a marketing professional may argue that
there are plenty of other and better concepts
around which to structure my arguments.
However, it suits my purposes particularly
well and helped to give me the structure for
this entire project. What Im concerned with
is how a business communicates with every
stakeholder on my list and the legal issues
that arise as a result.
To add some more structure, Ive split
the book itself into several parts: the first is
an overview and map of the landscape in
which corporate communication takes place
in 2011; the second concentrates on relations
with internal stakeholders (and their relations
with each other); and the third section
onwards deals with external stakeholders.
If Ive lived up to my intention, this book
should provide a plain English overview of
legal issues in corporate communication. By
way of disclaimer, however, Id say this it has
become increasingly clear to me as I become
more experienced that, in any legal issue
arising from the workings of a business, lawyers
are no longer the most important people in the
room. Like I say, Im no marketer and Im not
in PR. When a drama turns into a crisis, we can
manage many if not most of its elements, but
the best advice I can give you when planning
or anticipating your response to the issues dealt
with here is to put your team together and
define their roles. Heres an example:
Management Providing, where possible
and appropriate, the public face of

IX

Executive summary

the response to an issue and making

ultimate decisions as to how it should be
dealt with, taking advice and input from:
Lawyers Advising on legal issues,
remedies and strategic options and
accountable to the management, but
taking input from:
Public relations Advising on external
perception, public reaction and looking
to influence opinion on the issue,
identifying negative opinion and content
taking advice on risk mitigation from
the lawyers but answering to the business
and feeding:
Communications Dealing with the
on the ground response to the issue,
with input on tone and content from
public relations;
Human resources Dealing with internal
fallout from the issue in question and
correctly managing outcomes in relation
to related members of staff; and
Online team Updating websites
where necessary, feeding new
information from as many platforms
as possible to all of the above and
considering how the issue in question
affects search engine results and
online perception.

This book should provide guidance which

will at least assist you in instructing your
lawyers, and vocabulary and/or translation
when you receive their advice. The topics
covered, and which I would imagine would
be among those which your lawyers will
cover, include:
Legal risk and monitoring of employee
use of IT and communications systems;
Employee use of social media;
Employee privacy and data protection;
Confidentiality;
Copyright and communications;

Trade marks, passing-off and

comparative advertising;
Defamation Libel and
malicious falsehood;
Domain names and disputes;
Advertising and marketing law; and
Criminal sanctions.
If this book doesnt provide you with an A to
Z of how to deal with the legal repercussions
of its subject matter, then it does at least
show you where to start.
Reference
1. See http://dictionary.reference.com/
browse/stakeholder.

About the author

Steve Kuncewicz is a solicitor in the Intellectual Property & Media team at Gateley LLP in
Manchester, handling mainly contentious matters for local, national and multinational businesses.
Steve specialises in social media and is a leading commentator on the subject, having published
his first book, Legal Issues of Web 2.0 and Social Media, in June 2010. He speaks regularly on the
subject at national and international conferences and is regarded as one of the leading members of
Manchesters Twitterati.
Steve is described by clients as bringing tact, discretion and common sense to business
dealings, a one-off specialist in his field with a fairly unique understanding of IP Law [who] in
particularhas been able to apply that to the online environment with great ease and foresight and
a straight talking professional who knows his business as well as anyone.
Steve is a regular media spokesperson and has given interviews to the local and national press
on various IP and media-related legal issues to outlets such as BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 2, Sky
News, Granada TV, More4, BBC Radio Manchester, Century FM, Talk 107, CityTalk, Rock Radio,
Kerrang Radio and LBC.
Steve has appeared in the Law Society Gazette as Lawyer In The News and has been featured
in the Times, Financial Times, Daily Star, Mirror, Sun, Computer Weekly, Manchester Evening
News, Liverpool Echo, Crains Manchester Business, PR Week, Insider, EN Magazine, Credit Today,
Information World Review, How-Do, Sky Movie News, UK Screen, Financial Director, TSG Life, Music
and Copyright and Computer and Videogames.
Steve is also heavily involved in business development, developing Web 2.0 and social media
strategy, and won a commendation at the 2009 Golden Twit awards for best business-to-business
use of Twitter.
Steve is a board member of Pro-Manchester, Honorary Solicitor to the Manchester Publicity
Association, a Council Member of Manchester Law Society and an Ambassador for Forever Manchester.

XI

Legal Issues of Corporate Communication in an Online World

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