I am currently building a website which provides activities to do and
articles to read online when someone is surfing. Having written that
sentence, I can see that the website looks like any other website, but
trust me, it is cool!! On a lot of sites there are 'terms and
conditions'. Do I have to place this on any commercial site? What
constitues a site which should have these? Without visiting a costly
lawyer, is there a way to get these written? How can I pay as little
as possible while being certain that these t&c's will uphold if a
legal issue does come up.

Hello shafferb1. First of all, my answer here should not be construed
as legal advice (per the Google Answer guidelines). With that said,
here is my advice.

First, if you're site is not providing a service that gathers personal
information or money from users and there is nothing that could be
construed as offensive, then there is probably no need for a 'terms
and conditions' page. Basically, these pages are there to cover any
possible reasons in which a person might be offended and/or sue the
owner. For example, if your site gathers personal information with the
intention of showing it publically (e.g. a personals site), any dummy
should know that their information that they input will be made
public, but just to be safe, most sites that are doing this will
specifically post it in the terms and conditions page.

Without seeing your site, it is difficult for me to assess it
specifically, but just think about it with this idea and see if
anything comes to mind. If you feel like you might need one, but don't
want to pay a lawyer, go to a site that is very similar to your own,
read their terms and conditions page and create your own modelled
after theirs. You may want to look at more than one, just to see if
the first one missed anything.

So to sum it up, it certainly can't hurt to have one, but if your site
simply offers article and activities without gathering information or
charging money then you probably don't need it. If you're getting one
just to be on the safe side there is probably need to hire a lawyer.
If you seriously  think there is a possibility that you may be liable
for something somehow, I recommend getting a lawyer to write it or at
least look over the one that you have written.

If you need further clarification, please use the 'clarify answer'
button before rating this questions. Good luck with your site! Thanks!
-shiva777

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Request for Answer Clarification by shafferb1-ga on 19 Jun 2003 08:38 PDT

Thanks for your answer. I do feel though that I do need further
clarification, as I was kind of looking for more definite facts as
opposed to just general common sense advice. Could you tell me a bit
more about where to look to find someone who regularly does this at a
relatively low cost. I have found one source, but the site which was
selling it as an e-book didn't look so legitimate.... I was also
looking to be more specific at what point do I need t&c's. For example
if I were to have advertising? The other issue may be that some of the
information although by all means not a high percentage may be info
that is considered in the public domain. You mention taking from other
sites their t&c's or adapting them anyway. Wouldn't this constitute
copyright issues in itself?- or at least cross the thin line of
plagurising.....

Sorry if I seem to be asking to much. I am just trying to clear up
this issue once and for all and will tip if it does this.
Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by shiva777-ga on 19 Jun 2003 12:06 PDT

Hello again shafferb1. I'll try my best to answer some of your
questions.

Here is a good article on terms and conditions pages:
http://www.coollawyer.com/webfront/internet_law_library/articles/law_library_user_agreement_article.php

and from the same site, here is a package of web oriented legal forms
you can purchase for $99:
http://www.coollawyer.com/webfront/doclist/docinfo.php?did=13&sid=0.63484100+1056046708&cart=0.63506300+1056046708


I also found a cheaper ($59.95)bundle of legal forms here:
http://www.weblawresources.com/webagreement_order.htm

The list of forms included can be found here:
http://www.weblawresources.com/WebAgreementContents.htm
I noticed that there was an advertising agreement listed which you can
view.

As far as writing your own using another as a guide, unless your
duplicating all of it or large chunks of it, it is not plagiarism. You
can definitely and legally use them as a guide to write your own. If
you look at these forms they are very similar to each other.

I looked around quite a bit and could not find specific answers to
your questions about public domain material and advertising. Here are
some resources that may help you to get answers to these specific
questions and others you may have:

You can submit a free legal question here:
http://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/

Here are some forums where you can ask legal advice questions:
http://chat.lawinfo.com/
http://forum.freeadvice.com/forumdisplay.php?s=655279eff856a2c0e308d5cf19d7a017&forumid=10

Finally, if you feel like you would really like to talk to a lawyer
here are a couple that specialize in Internet law:
http://www.himels-computer-law.com/
http://www.avant-law.com/
or find your own (and plenty other legal stuff) at 
http://findlaw.com/

Hope all of this helps you. Thanks. -shiva777

Feel that you went the full hog and volunteered information.
Sympathised and understood that original answer was not exactly what I
wanted.