Web Scraping and Copyright

Technology develops faster than the law does.   This can have both good and bad results.  Take the practice of web-scraping, for instance.   The same type of software used to detail the content of your site for search engine results can also be used to rob you of your innovative content.   Instead of just syndicating the content to provide it for search results, the software can also ‘scrape up’ the content to be used somewhere else.

The logical legal tool to deal with web-scraping abuse is copyright.  

Software Escrow Arrangements

So what would happen if your IT contractor went into liquidation?   It could be your IP horror story.   In a disturbingly high number of cases, IT services contracts specify that where software solutions are custom-made for an enterprise, they are owned by the contractor, not the enterprise.   This means that in a liquidation scenario, ownership of the software will vest with the liquidator.

Your new IT contractor will need to have access to your software, and preferably a license to tinker with the source code.   Without these things, not only does switching contractors become an impossible transition, but any modifications to your software solution may lead to a breach of the liquidator’s IP.