PPC Legal Question

[EJS]

I have an interesting and possibly complicated question. If I own a generic domain name and I use it for PPC parking, could I be held accountable for the products that are being advertised through my domain name? Hypothetically, if a consumer clicks on one of the links and is referred to an online pharmacy, and the medication he orders is counterfeit, could he sue me for directing him to that pharmacy?

Essentially, could the domain name owner be held accountable for the product that it is advertising?

[DNGeeks]

I would assume this would fall under product liability laws. However I am not a lawyer and this sure as heck is not legal advice.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index...ucts_liability

Products liability refers to the liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any product for damage caused by that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts (at the top of the chain), an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retail store owner (at the bottom of the chain).

Products liability claims can be based on negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty of fitness depending on the jurisdiction within which the claim is based.

Translated to products liability terms, a defendant is liable when it is shown that the product is defective. It is irrelevant whether the manufacturer or supplier exercised great care; if there is a defect in the product that causes harm, he or she will be liable for it.

I assume when they use manufacturer in the last paragraph they mean everyone in the chain as described previously.

Get a lawyers advice if you are really concerned

[mike031]

it is up to the consumer to verify and make sure everything is legit.

i really doubt the blame falls on the owner or even the middleman (ppc company/aggregator) most likely it'll be the advertiser which google/yahoo/etc has info on and direct contact to.

but you bring up an interesting scenario indeed...surprisingly i haven't heard about too many of this cases, none actually! considering there is 1 billion users on the internet and e-commerce booming its surprising that this doesn't happen often but i think people are smart so they don't fall for scammers and usually google and yahoo do a good job staying on top of things when it comes to verifying ads and especially web sites selling products.

[Dave Zan]

Interesting question. But this layperson doesn't believe so because all you did
was just "show him the way".

It's not like anyone forced the end-user to go to your site and click on that
link. Then again, with so many crazy people out there it doesn't necessarily
mean they'll be stopped from suing you under whatever they can.

But if they're gonna sue you, they'll have to fly to your area. :-D

I wonder if there's an actual case about this. Hmmm...

[EJS]

I think if there was a case, places like Google, Yahoo and Craigslist would be in a world of trouble.

[DNGeeks]

If someone is going to sue you, they don't need to "fly to your area", they only need to serve you.

No one forced anyone to use asbestos as insulation, but the manufacturers are still being sued to this day.

No one forced anyone to buy tylenol but the manufacturer still settled a lawsuit.

In those cases it was the manufacturer that was sued, but the door was probably still open to the retailer, shipper, or wharehouse to be sued.

The only way you're going to get the answer you want/need (as I said earlier) is to speak with a lawyer who specializes in this kind of stuff (product liability).

Further to this discussion, I found this on another legal site

Laws in some states provide that a retail seller or wholesaler may not be held liable for a defective product unless the product was manufactured to the seller's or wholesaler's specifications, or unless the seller or wholesaler modified the product in some way.

[Duckinla]

In the states, anyone can sue anyone anytime for pretty much anything. I can't imagine the suit would hold up, but that won't stop someone from trying. If you are making enough money to incorporate, it's probably worth doing. And then never let your corporations cash balance or assets get high enough to make you a target.