Many print-oriented graphic artists who have enjoyed working for themselves full time, or on the side while holding down a day job, have embraced the opportunities available for developing Web sites. Your clients may be asking you to develop sites based on catalogs you've done, or are referring their associates to you because you seem to know something about making a Web site while they remain clueless.

The Basics
Something that every graphic artist (or whatever you may call yourself) should be aware of is the high probability that at some point you might be sued by a client. Typically, in developing print projects, you are unlikely to face any sort of legal problems with a client other than slow- or no-pay problems, which would involve you taking your client to small claims court.

The potential for lawsuits from a client in the print world are generally limited to problems with final projects such as misprinted work, or situations where the client signed-off on something and then the problem was caught post-completion. In these instances you are somewhat protected by the sign-off from the client. When the problem is your fault, your liability is (usually) simply to "make good" on correcting the problem, such as covering the cost to reprint or redo something. It is rare that you will be sued for any liability issues related to legal matters of content or copyrights. In all cases, you should have some type of work agreement with your client, such as that provided by the Graphic Artists Guild (www.gag.org), or a similar trade group, which limits your liability to nothing more than the total value of the project.

Larger design houses have something called liability (errors and omissions) insurance, usually in the amount of $1 million or more (depending on size of clients and their jobs). This helps to protect them against potential lawsuits brought by clients on issues of liability related to work performed. This can be expensive, somewhat more than the cost of your car and home insurance, and is impractical for the average sole proprietor. However, some associate programs like that offered by Pacific Bell to send business leads to small companies in the Web design field make proof of liability insurance mandatory.

So, how do you protect yourself if you're a small business owner, a sole proprietor, or maybe a person who is working part-time from the spare room? I'll explain one strategy in a moment.

Web Design Legalities
Web design work is great if you can get it. It's generally more time-consuming than print work because of the various steps in addition to layout and scanning, such as programming HTML, image compression, image maps, JavaScript rollovers, and loading content on servers via FTP. More time equals more billable hours. The downside is enormous increased legal exposure vs. print work.

Because of the global nature of the World Wide Web, everything that is built into a Web site is potentially viewable and accessible by anyone, anywhere. This means that a Web site is technically subject to both federal and state laws because citizens of any particular state (i.e., California, Michigan, etc.) may view the content. This covers everything from local privacy laws to interstate commerce laws, to local consumer protection laws.

Some companies that come to a designer, or design company, expect that their project will be handled start-to-finish. You're the expert, the consultant, the developer. They've come to you because they can't afford a full-blown ad agency (where usually the minimum project is $100,000), or somebody referred you and after the initial phone call you achieved a rapport with the client. They have put their trust in building their online presence in you and your company.

Assuming you're already operating legally, such as having a valid DBA (doing business as) statement filed in your county, having a proper city business license, as well as having a state license to collect sales tax, your next mission is to become aware of some of the legal issues that could impact a client, and for which they could then sue you for any liability.

A variety of laws related to commerce and privacy can impact your client, and if fines are levied by any government agency against your client, they could potentially hold you liable and sue you for any legal fees and the cost of the fines. This has happened to a number of medium-size design houses in the past year, and is a harsh wake-up call to designers who have taken the issue of work agreements and liability clauses lightly.

Rather than simply make an agreement that puts the entire onus of all such matters on your client, I've found I've been able to win bids simply because I am knowledgeable about some of these issues, and offer solutions to the client before they put themselves at risk. If you're working with a lower-budget client, they may not have the resources to hire a Web-savvy lawyer to perform a "legal site audit," and your ability to help prepare a client for some of these legal pitfalls will actually help you win business.

California Commerce Laws
California, like many states, has a law on the books that protects consumers in the state even if they place an order from a company located elsewhere via "interstate commerce." Traditionally this affected mail-order and 800-number companies, but has since been amended to include Web-based E-commerce.

The information required to be disclosed to a buyer "located in California" is:

• (1) the vendor's return and refund policy, the legal name under which the business is conducted and,except as provided in paragraph (3), the complete street address from which the business is actually conducted.

• (2) If the disclosure of the vendor's legal name and address information required by this subdivision is made by on-screen notice, all of the following shall apply:

  • (A) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall appear on any of the following: (i) the first screen displayed when the vendor's electronic site is accessed, (ii) on the screen on which goods or services are first offered, (iii) on the screen on which a buyer may place the order for goods or services or (iv) on the screen on which the buyer may enter payment information, such as a credit card account number. The communication of that disclosure shall not be structured to be smaller or less legible than the text of the offer of the goods or services.

  • (B) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall be accompanied by an adjacent statement describing how the buyer may receive the information at the buyer's E-mail address. The vendor shall provide the disclosure information to the buyer at the buyer's E-mail address within five days of receiving the buyer's request.

Essentially, this is similar to the direct mail law, which states if you place an ad in a magazine with a P.O. box, you must also show a street address where the company is located.

Fines for not complying with this California law start at $1000 per occurrence.