Key Legal Considerations for Your App

With so many considerations to make when developing an app, it’s easy to overlook the legal aspect of the process. Some of these aspects you may already have on your checklist before you publish your app, but others are things that you may not know you need.

tech
September 14, 2020
Key Legal Considerations for Your App

With so many considerations to make when developing an app, it’s easy to overlook the legal aspect of the process. Some of these aspects you may already have on your checklist before you publish your app, but others are things that you may not know you need.

Take a few minutes to go over these key considerations and make sure you are covered.

Privacy and Terms of Use

Just because these are two pages that no one seems to read doesn’t mean you don’t need to make sure that they are not only easily accessible, but are as detailed as you require. You know you need them, and you’ve probably been procrastinating doing them. Here’s why you need them.

  • Terms of Use is an agreement between you and people who use your app. Provide the rules that the user has to follow if they want to continue to use the app. If users do not follow these rules, let them know that you reserve the right to close their account or any other potential consequences of failing to follow the agreement.
  • The Privacy Policy is important for all users to understand how you will be using their data. This is particularly important if children are likely to use your app as there are many privacy laws around people who are underage (though this varies by country as to what age is considered underage). You will need to tailor the data you collect to avoid running afoul of laws like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (US law). Even adults will want to know what personal data you are collecting so that they can decide whether or not they want to use your apps.

Intellectual Property

Apps are considered intellectual property, which makes them protected by intellectual property laws, primarily copyrights, patents, and trademarks. If you are developing an app that is completely unique or that has some very unique features, you will probably want to look into protecting your app before you launch it.

IP protections are important, even if your app isn’t anything particularly new or exciting. By protecting your app, you can help to protect your business and meet your goals. You will probably need to consult a lawyer to make sure you get it right. Intellectual property laws are notoriously difficult to navigate.

Setting up an NDA to Ensure Confidentiality

On the other end of the spectrum, you have to make sure that your ideas for your app are protected when you seek help from experts. Before you hire anyone to help develop an app, make sure that they won’t use your ideas to make their own version of the app or share it with other companies. The best way to do that is with a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). These are usually quick to develop (there are many online templates to help you get started).

Never provide any kind of information about your app and any ideas you have before the NDA is signed to ensure that your ideas are safe.

App Store Agreements

You will need to follow all of the applicable rules and agreements that each of the platforms have to post your app to those platforms. This is similar to the user agreement you have with your users, but protects the major app platforms from abuse by app developers. It also helps to set standards for the apps that are posted to their sites.

Apply All Associated Laws and Regulations to Your App

If you have to follow particular laws in your state, province, or nation, those same laws and regulations apply to your apps as well. For example, in the US, all health and wellness apps have to follow the regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, better known as HIPAA. If your app relates to finances, you will have a variety of regulations to follow pertaining to the industry. Even some gaming apps have to follow regulations, especially ones that provide online gambling.

Then you have to apply all of the laws regarding apps in your area and nation. Many places have sets of privacy and data collection laws that dictate what information you can store about your users.

Quick Summary

With so many other things to do, it can be difficult to focus on the legal aspect of app development because it is usually less familiar. The fact that it can be time consuming doesn’t help. However, it is just as important to make sure that your app follows all of the regulations and requirements while protecting your ideas and work from theft and misuse.