Drafting Affiliate Marketing Agreements: Ensuring Compliance With Advertising, IP and Internet Marketing Laws

Description

Affiliate marketing, a form of performance-based marketing in which a company rewards an affiliate for driving customers to purchase their products or services, is a burgeoning business strategy in the e-commerce era. While affiliate marketing offers a number of benefits for merchants and affiliates, there are a number of potential pitfalls with the arrangements of which parties and their counsel must be aware.

If not handled carefully, affiliate marketing arrangements can inadvertently run afoul of laws regulating advertising, Internet marketing and intellectual property rights. Further, failure to thoughtfully approach the drafting of affiliate marketing agreements can result in unanticipated liability exposure, contractual breakdowns, and disputes or litigation.

When negotiating affiliate marketing agreements, counsel must strategically construct provisions related to compensation, commission, lead volume, indemnification, limitation of liability and termination to minimize risk for their clients.

Listen as our panel of attorneys experienced in negotiating affiliate marketing agreements discusses best practices for drafting and negotiating these contracts. The panel will review the various laws that impact the arrangements, specific clauses that should be included in agreements and strategies for avoiding common contractual pitfalls.