Those looking for a little legal advice on corporate blogging would do well to read Ephraim Schwartz’s column in last week’s InfoWorld magazine. He’s done some of the footwork and consulted with several attorneys and summarized his findings. Much of what he says map to the guidelines that have been published by others but it’s always helpful to get the legal perspective.
1. Negative opinions stated as fact can be interpreted as "trade disparagement" or liable.
2. Republishing too much material under your name could be interpreted as copyright infringement.
3. Stay away from any statements about earnings rumors on future strategy.
4. In light of the recent Apple suit, revealing trade secrets is a bad idea.
5. Liability insurance may not cover bloggers.
In general, it’s always a good idea to have a publicly circulated blogging policy to define, as clearly as possible, up front, what the corporate blogger needs to know. Worst case, this same policy would be a useful thing to point to should a dispute ever arise.