May 31, 2015 — Whether you are a designer, a developer, a blogger, or a business owner, Heather will give you a plain English overview of this year’s legal developments which can affect your work. We run through UK, EU, and global legal issues including VAT, copyright, online privacy, e-commerce, and data protection. We also look at the widening divide between lawmakers and the creators of the digital economy and discuss what we need to do as a community to solve it.

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May 24, 2015 — Lightning Talk zum Thema GPL und warum sie der Motor für die große Beliebtheit und Verbreitung von WordPress ist.

May 17, 2015 — A quick overview on copyright and trademark law for designers, developers, and business owners

March 21, 2015 — From copyright and trademark concerns to changing privacy laws to determining how to comply with the range of open source licenses software publishers use today, the number of issues that a web developer can face in trying to determine how to comply with it all can become daunting. This session presents best practices to avoid some of the common pitfalls, and how to make the process a bit less painful in the future.

October 10, 2014 — Regardless of CMS or platform, web designers and developers have to comply with national and EU laws affecting our work. Most of the resources about these laws are written for lawyers, by lawyers, and these resources offer little insight for those of us who are obliged to implement the laws on client sites. So once again Heather has taken it on herself to translate the legal gobbledygook into practical insights that the web community can implement. A new EU law, The Consumer Rights Directive, takes effect on 13 June 2014, replacing the 1990s trading law that currently governs e-commerce transactions in the UK. All web sites offering goods or services online must comply, and failure to do so cancels the e-commerce transaction or contract. Heather’s talk delivers a plain English explanation of what web site owners need to do to bring their WordPress e-commerce operations into line with the regulations. Heather also gives an update on recent legal developments including domains, cookies, and databases which directly affect our work as web professionals.

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August 23, 2014 — As a blogger, you post photos, and probably quotes from people you interview (or, maybe you borrow quotes and content from other websites). If you have a transactional site, you’re making marketing claims. Every single one of these things can get you into legal trouble, and many bloggers are doing them horribly wrong. Which photos are illegal to post on your blog? What is “fair use,” and how does it affect bloggers, exactly? To what degree can you tweak a direct quotation from someone? What about libel and slander? And what constitutes over-promising from a marketing perspective, and how can it get you into hot water with the FTC? What you don’t know about communication law can hurt you. I’ll present examples writers who’ve found themselves stuck in a legal quagmire, and give practical guidelines and resources for keeping your blog in line.

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November 12, 2012 — A basic introduction to copyright law as it affects blogging and, to a lesser extent, software and application development. Emphasis on fair use, free speech and licensing.

January 23, 2010 — How do you protect your intellectual property as a blogger? Should you register a trademark, a copyright? What are the rules around using third party materials? Miguel Danielson and Kimberly Isbell talk about responding to DMCA take down notices, first amendment issues, and all the other legal issues bloggers commonly face – including time for Q&A.

Special thanks to the Microsoft NERD Center for hosting WordCamp Boston.