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Reasons Why Not to Allow Corporate Blogging

By Alysa Zeltzer and John Villafranco Internet Law and Strategy

THE DON'T OF CORPORATE BLOGGING

* DON'T employ consumer bloggers to say positive things about your company's products or services without ensuring that they disclose their affiliations with the company. Endorsements and testimonials by word of mouth have always been a popular form of marketing, but the blogging world has made them even more so, thereby making content that crosses the line an attractive target for regulators.

* DON'T host a corporate blog without training blogging employees about how to post in compliance with applicable laws and company policies.

* DON'T forget to monitor the blog periodically for compliance with laws and company policies.

* DON'T allow the blog to be used as a forum for employees to say whatever they want about the company's products or services regardless of accuracy or evidence. All communications posted on behalf of the company should comply with applicable truth-in-advertising laws.

* DON'T permit employees to publish company trade secrets or patentable information on a blog. That disclosure -- whether intentional or inadvertent -- can put at risk the secret status of such information, thereby making it ineligible for trade secret protection. Or, if the disclosure involves a third-party's trade secrets, that act could expose the company to claims of trade secret misappropriation. Similarly, employees who disclose patentable information could jeopardize the company's ability to obtain a patent using that information.

* DON'T terminate employees for posting inappropriate content to corporate blogs without considering the risk of wrongful termination claims, especially where the company does not have a consistent practice on how it treats employees who post content online. Employees may claim that the employer authorized the posting, and is now discriminating against them for exercising their right to organize.

Abogados February 20, 2007 07:51 PM | Preguntas Para Abogados