Writing for Business Success/Effective business writing/Legal implications 1
Read Words and your legal responsibility from Chapter 4.5 in Saylor Academy's Business Communication for Success. (You do not need to do the exercises at the end of the reading.) This reading discusses how business communications are governed by laws and ethical considerations.
Because laws and perceptions of ethical behaviour vary between countries and cultures, we strongly encourage you to research the laws and ethics that apply to business communications in the country or region where you are planning to do business. With the expansion of global and e-business enterprises, it is critical to develop knowledge and skills to communicate effectively across cultural borders.
On this page, we highlight three aspects of law which are widely relevant to business communications, with some examples from different countries.
False or misleading claims
Businesses must be honest with consumers about their own products and services - and must not make false claims about their competitors. This web-page on False or misleading claims produced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) provides a good overview of the types of business behaviour that are against the law in this context.
Note that in Australia exactly the same laws apply to communications via social media as on other forms of communication: Social Media (ACCC). In addition, a business can be held responsible for misleading comments made by others on their business's social media pages.
- Are there similar laws in your country or region?
Defamation
Defamation is a false statement that damages someone's reputation, and can result in being sued. In general terms, 'libel' is the word used for written defamation and 'slander' for spoken defamation.
This article on Best practices for avoiding defamation on social media from the American New Media Rights website is helpful in explaining what defamation is and highlighting the particular risks for social media users.
- What are the laws on defamation in your country or region?
- Try to find a news report of a libel case (ideally in your own country) where the person/business complaining about a libel was successful.
- What was the consequence for the person/business who wrote the libel?
- How could better communication have avoided the situation arising?
Copyright and plagiarism (
: SW - needs more work)
To avoid problems, before publishing your work, especially on the Internet, take time to familiarize yourself with current intellectual property definitions and copyright attribution requirements.
- As a starting point, read:
- avoiding copyright infringement, produced by the British Library, explains some ways copyright laws are relevant to businesses in the United Kingdom
- Websites: Five Ways to Stay Out of Trouble, produced by Stanford University Libraries in the USA.
- Try to find a similar outline of copyright law for your own country.
