Staying On The Right Side Of The Law With Your Marketing Blog

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Blogging is a brilliant way for small businesses to promote themselves. And Google loves blogs! But you don't want to run foul of the law...

In New Zealand there are two laws that business bloggers should be particularly aware of - the Fair Trading Act 1996 and Copyright Act 1994.

Fair Trading Act

The Fair Trading Act protects consumers from misleading and deceptive statements and claims regarding goods and services.

In practical terms, it applies to both product labelling and advertising of products or services. A label or advertisement will breach the Fair Trading Act if it misleads or deceives or has the potential to mislead or deceive consumers.

Under the Fair Trading Act you must consider the overall impression created by your labelling or advertisement. Food product labelling, for example, may comply with the requirements of the Food Code, Food Act and other advertising regulations and codes of practice, but still be in breach of the Fair Trading Act if the overall impression given by the label or advertising is misleading.

Here's a real life example...

GlaxoSmithKline was prosecuted in 2007 for misleading claims about the Vitamin C content of Ribena. They claimed in TV adverts that "the blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges."

While it is literally true that blackcurrants have four times the vitamin C of oranges, Ribena syrup diluted in the recommended way would only have one and a half times the vitamin C of orange juice.

GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty to 10 charges of breaching the Fair Trading Act in relation to these "four times" claims and a further five charges over the incorrect labelling of Ribena which contained no detectable level of vitamin C. They were fined a quarter of a million dollars.

What does this have to do with blogging?

You must make sure your articles do not mislead people, even if what you say is technically correct. It is the *overall impression* that counts, not technical correctness.

For more information, visit the Fair Trading Act page on the Ministry of Consumer Affairs' website: 
www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/for-business/compliance/fair-trading-act/fair-trading-act-about-the-act

Copyright

The term "copyright" refers to a bundle of exclusive rights given to owners of original works. In New Zealand, copyright is an automatic unregistered right that comes into existence every time an original work is created, published or performed.

Of relevance to bloggers, copyright protects literary works including text like articles, emails, books and training manuals. It also covers artistic works including photographs, paintings, drawings, diagrams and maps.

In a nutshell, copying such material and using it on your blog is not acceptable. Civil and criminal penalties may apply. The penalty may be a substantial fine (up to $150,000) and/or a term of imprisonment.

For there to be copyright infringement, you must have copied someone else's work, either in its entirety or a substantial part. "Substantial" doesn't just mean quantity. It can also mean the quality of what is taken, e.g. an important or distinctive part of the work.

Generally, infringement depends on the quality of what is copied rather than the quantity. For example, it may be sufficient that only a small part of an article is copied.

As long as you don't copy or plagiarise other people's work, and stick to writing original articles that are a product of your own efforts, copyright issues should not arise.

For more information, visit the Copyright page on the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand's website:www.iponz.govt.nz/cms/copyright.

Disclaimer: Evolve does not provide legal advice. If you require further information or need to know how the law applies in a particular situation, please seek advice from a lawyer. Please read Evolve's full disclaimer notice.