Legal Question in Technology Law in Maryland

Re: new e-commerce site

You need a very good end user license agreement that disclaims all possible foreseeable causes of action. You need separate end user licenses for the U.S and the European Union, as well as any other country you are selling the merchandise in. The laws are different, and terms in End User license agreements that are okay in the U.S. will not be okay in the E.U. and vice versa.

Also you need agreements with each and every product supplier, to address liability for personal injury, intellectual property ownership, etc.

You also need a very good web site development agreement, that addresses issues such as ownership of content, processing times, etc. Do not use the form given to you by the developer, as they may try to claim ownership of your content, as well as your site.

You need to register to collect sales taxes in every state that you are present in the United States. You need to talk to an attorney immediately to determine what constitutes physical presence for sales tax collection, and in which states you are physically present.

Please sent up a good merchant account relationship with a major bank to process your credit card payments. I recommend PNC, Bank of America, or Citicorp. Do not use pay pal! Pay Pal's compliance with Money Lasundering Laws and Regulations is not good, and you will be liable for their non compliance.

If you have any further questions, please contact me.