The Legal Layers of a Website: IP, Contracts, Privacy, and the DMCA Before You Ship
By Casey Scott McKay ·
A website or app is not one legal object but five stacked layers, and each layer answers to a different body of law. This article maps what is actually protectable in a product — source code, user interface, copy, data, and brand — across copyright, trademark, trade dress, patent, and trade secret, and explains why the most valuable asset is usually the one nobody could register. It then works through the contract layer, where browsewrap terms routinely fail under the Nguyen and Berman line while a well-designed assent screen almost always holds. The DMCA section 512 designated-agent registration gets its own treatment as the highest-return six dollars in technology law, alongside the repeat-infringer conditions that have cost service providers hundreds of millions. The article covers Section 230 and the categories of claim it does not touch, the CCPA/CPRA and GDPR and the state privacy patchwork, the FTC's dark-patterns and endorsement enforcement, website accessibility after the Robles decision, and open source license compliance. It closes with the places the law is genuinely unsettled and points to the companion guide and checklist for the step-by-step work.
IP and Technology > Internet | Article | Published 26 April 2024 - Updated 14 November 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. A website or app is not one legal object. It is five stacked layers — what you own, what you promise, what you collect, what you host, and what you say — and each answers to a different body of law. This article maps what is actually protectable across copyright, trademark, trade dress, patent, and trade secret; explains why browsewrap terms keep losing and what a durable assent screen looks like after Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble and Berman v. Freedom Financial; treats the DMCA § 512 designated-agent registration as the highest-return six dollars in technology law; works through Section 230 and the claims it does not touch; surveys the CCPA/CPRA, GDPR, and the state privacy patchwork; covers the FTC's dark-patterns and endorsement enforcement, accessibility after Robles v. Domino's, and open source compliance; and ends with the questions courts have not answered. The step-by-step lives in the companion guide and checklist.
Keywords: website launch legal issues · browsewrap · clickwrap · terms of service enforceability · dmca designated agent · section 512 safe harbor · section 230 · ccpa cpra · gdpr · coppa · dark patterns · ftc endorsement guides · ada website accessibility · wcag 2.1 aa · open source license compliance · work made for hire · software copyright · session replay wiretapping · click to cancel · trade secret
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