Site Ownership - Why Keeping Site Supporting Docs Together Is Vital

The reason you started to a website was undoubtedly not to become familiar with filing. That being said, a site is a business and that means you need to keep your records straight. This is particular true when it comes time to sell the site.

What is your exit strategy is a common question in the world of business law. Ask most business owners in the brick n' mortar world the question and they can provide you with a rather detailed answer. Ask a website owner the same question and you tend to get blank stares. Exit strategy? What is that?

Well, the truth of the matter is sooner or later you are going to sell a site. If you are lucky, it will be because you receive an overwhelming monetary offer that leaves you laughing like Mr. Burns on the Simpsons. If you are less lucky, you might just get burned out of working on the same site every day. Whatever the reason, the sales process can be a real eye opener for most site owners.

How do you picture the sale working? Most owners would suggest there would be some negotiating over price, a final agreement and then an exchange of money and domains, etc. Alas, this leaves out a small stage known as the due diligence review. In this stage, the buyer looks into critical elements of the site like whether there are any conflicts in contracts, the intellectual properties such as trademarks and copyright are in order and so on. Practically speaking, this means the buyer is going to be asking for all the supporting documentation for the site from you. Ah, now we get back to the filing aspect of your web business!

As a site owner, you need to be able to produce the documents supporting the elements of your site. If you had a third party design it, you need to produce the agreement showing the copyright was transferred to you. You need to show the trademark approval, including the categories selected if appropriate. The copyright for any written content needs to be produced as well. Then there are contracts related to business relationships, hosting and, well, you get the idea.

Trying to rally all your supporting documentation when an acceptable bid for a site comes in is a total nightmare. Keep your important site documents in a file from the outset. It will save you a lot of pain down the road.

Richard A. Chapo provides legal services to parties selling a website via his firm at SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com.