Ask the Lawyer @ silicon.com

Q. I have bought some domain names which relate to the UK arm (i.e. .co.uk) of a multinational company. The company in question is now asking for these names to be transferred to them as they have just re-launched themselves under the new name we have previously bought and registered with Nominet. Are we entitled to seek compensation before transferring ownership?

A: The law in this area is still developing, but at present the company can only get its name back in two main cases. The first refers to classic cybersquatting: where the domain name is substantially the same as their trademark (i.e. business name) and their trademark is either registered or is well known and you have no real intent to use it but are holding it with the evident intent of selling it to them. The second case is where you are doing things with the domain name which are causing them harm.

If you acquired the domain name before the company acquired any trademark rights in that expression, then the name is rightfully yours.

In general, unless the company can establish that what you are doing infringes its trademark rights (which it won't do if you were there first), or you are doing something patently abusive, then it will need to negotiate with you and you can set your own price - indeed you are not obliged to transfer the name. On the other hand, if you are obliged to transfer a name, you will not be entitled to payment.

Recent legislation in the US means that you cannot do the same with the .com and other US registries. Indeed, in the absence of a local (US-based) entity to take action against, an aggrieved party can apply to have the name transferred to it in your absence.

Q. I am a network manager at a secondary school, and I'm being pressured into installing software that we, as a school, do not own. Certain members of the teaching staff wish to purchase software using their own finances, and have it installed on school equipment. Is this legal? I'm also told that, as network manager/system administrator, I have no legal right to prevent staff from installing software on the school computers.

A. There are plenty of valid reasons for not permitting loading of software onto a school system. It may contain viruses, or interface badly with other software (corrupting databases etc.). Even if it operates on a totally standalone basis, it takes up resources which were acquired with other uses in mind.

There isn't much point in paying specialists to manage the IT resources if any old individual can load anything they like on them, so long as the licence allows! But the exact powers you have to control such conduct will depend on the internal policies of the school, and on the terms of its employment contracts with teachers and systems administrators.

That said, what we have here is essentially a licence issue. With software, one must always look to the licence terms to see what is permitted and what isn't. (Note that package software is never sold but only licensed, i.e. the copyright owner makes and distributes copies, and the purchaser of a copy can do only what he/she is allowed to do, under the terms stated in the licence document.)

In some cases, the terms of the licence may not be binding on users, either because they aren't made clear at or before the time of purchase, or because they are unfair/unreasonable, but in general, restrictions on who can use the software, on what equipment, and especially, how many copies can be made or operated (usually, concurrently) will be valid.

When a user within an organisation buys software, they do so either in their own name or on behalf of that organisation. Who owns the software may well affect what can be done with it. For example, the licence may be personal to the owner, in which case it cannot be used by anyone else, or it could be licensed for use only on a standalone (un-networked) PC.

As a result of such restrictions, you might well not be entitled to use software owned by an individual teacher, by loading it onto the school system. (Indeed, even if that software was bought with school funds, it might still be wrong/unauthorised for your hardware.)

However, it is unlikely that the issue of who owns software will determine whether you can lawfully load and run it on the school system. Rather, if the licence terms permit use on the kind of system the school operates, then the law would imply into the licence a right for you to do the loading, on behalf of the owner.

Nevertheless, a responsible systems manager will not load (or allow loading of) software onto a system without his/her authorisation, which will only be given where the relevant licence allows use of that software on that system.

Q. Is it illegal to provide a link from your Web site to others without informing them?

A. You will be on safe ground if - even without informing the target site - you provide a link to a home page, avoiding the use of anyone's trademark, logo or other proprietary right. You must make it clear to users they are leaving your site, and not mislead them as to where they are going. You cannot pass personal data about those users to the new site without consent (or other appropriate clearance under the data protection laws). And you should not frame the new site within your own.

If you want to use someone's logo as part of a click-through, get their consent. If you want to link into any place other than a home page, think again. This means all kinds of disclaimers, notices, and instructions may have been bypassed, which may get you sued (either by the target site, or by the user who lost the benefit of that warning etc), and it also means various advertisements or sponsorship logos have also been bypassed, which means the target site is unlikely to be happy with you.

** Network Multimedia Television Ltd/silicon.com give no warranties as to the accuracy of the information and advice contained herein and can take no responsibility for any acts or omissions resulting from reliance upon the information provided. Commentary is intended only as general guidance on legal issues arising from the circumstances described, and specific legal advice based on all relevant facts should always be sought.