Online & Mail-in contest for cash

[skadera]

Hi,

I am a web designer. A client of mine is looking to start a contest for money. It is a word game where the user sends in a small fee and then get a percentage of the take if they win. The web site will just be an advertisment for the contest with rules and a printable entry form that is mailed in.

I have done some research on the issue and know that there are some legal conerns with running contests. For whatever reason, my client does not want to do it right with legal advice, he just wants to wing it.

So my question is, if I do the site, he runs the contest, and something goes wrong (such as a child enters, or a state wants to sue) can I be held liable? If so, to what extent?

This is a small site and I don't want to do it if I am sticking my neck out.

Thanks,

 

[Some Random Guy]

If your client owns the web site and you are doing work-for-hire, then all you are doing is providing a service for him, and have no responsibility for the ongoing operation of the site.

Suggestions to cover your a**:
1. Get paid in full before the site goes live
2. Have a contract stating that you are doing work-for-hire and retain no rights in the end product.
3. Make sure you are not listed on the domain name records.
4. Document your legal issues to him in a nice little letter and give it to him by a) sending it Certifiied Return Receipt requested or B) having a line for him to sign acknowledging that he has read the statement. Keep this or a copy.

 

[seniorjudge]

Actually, no one should be answering this guy because he didn't put his state in his post.

 

[Some Random Guy]

And what criminal liability would a person have for providing web site pages to another person according to their design specifications?

The OP is not running the site or the business. He is providing a service to another business. Out of the goodness of OP's heart, he is telling the business that the may be breaking the law by not following certain state regulations. Show me the criminal liability.

 

[Some Random Guy]

I assume that no state in his post means all 50 states and US territories. Because if this contest is open to all in the US, then we will have liability in each one of those 50 states accoring to their individual laws.

If this is an international contest, then expect to be liable in every country connected to the Internet.

That's why international contests are so rare.