'Legal Boundaries of Online Advertising'

• Author: Gönenç Gürkaynak, Ilay Yilmaz, Burak Yesilaltay
• Pages: 180-189

JICLT

Journal of International Commer cial Law and Technology

Vol.9, No.3 (2014)

180

“Legal Boundaries of Online Advertising”

Gönenç Gürkaynak,* İlay Yılmaz,* Burak Yeşilaltay*

ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract. This contribution discusses the legal framework of online advertising and

common legal issues pertaining thereto. This paper also addresses t he implementation of

general legal provisions to online advertising issues in different jurisdictions and the

diversity of appr oaches. It provides th e legal boundaries that are specifically applicable to

online advertising. The paper then provides a legal analysis on online advertising with a

focus on Turkish laws and practice. In the conclusion, there are general evaluations on the

legal aspect of online advertising and certain suggestions on the development of a legal

framework on online advertising.

1. Introduction

.

Back in the mid-1990, the Internet medium caught corporations’ attention. They sought t o tap the power

of the Internet1 in order to communicate with their customers2 and to present an d promote their products

and services. It is commonly accepted that online advertising started when a web magazine, HotWired,

sold a banner ad to a telecommunications company, AT&T, an d displayed the ad on its webpage for the

first time3, in 19944. It has made great progress since then. Throughout the past decade, online advertising

boosted its growth. It eclipsed radio advertising in 2007 and by 2011; online advertising was projected to

surpass television revenues5. It became a key economic driver in th e Internet economy, by funding many

websites and services as well6. Today it is difficult to surf the Internet without seeing online advertising7.

As the variety and audience of online advertising increased, different legal issues arose and the necessity

to set a legal framework for this area inevitably emerged.

Legal rules regulating advertising are not generally limited to any particular medium through which

an advertisement is communicated8 and are applicable to the online context as well9. For exampl e, under

Turkish laws, the scope of the rules governing advertising covers any advertisement, including the written

* Managing Partner, ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law, Istanbul, Turkey, gonenc.gurkaynak@elig.com

* Senior Associate, ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law, Istanbul, Turkey, ilay.yilmaz@elig.com

* Legal intern, ELIG, Attorneys-at-Law, Istanbul, Turkey, burak.yesilaltay@elig.com

1 J. D. Hart, Internet Law: A Field Guide, 2008, BNA Books, Sixth Edition, Ch.8. XII. A. p.577

2 G. Schneider, Electronic Commerce, 2007, Thomson Course Technology, 2007, Seventh Annual Edition, Ch.4,

p.184

3 But see, O’Reilly biography, at http://oreilly.com/oreilly/tim_bio.csp: “1993. O’Reilly’s Global Network Navigator

site (GNN, which was sold to America Online in September 1995) was the first web portal and the first true

commercial site on the World Wide Web.”

4 B. K. Kaye, and N. Medoff, Just a Click Away: Advertising on the Internet, 2001, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon

Cited by D. S. Evans, The Online Advertising Industry: Economics, Evolution, and Privacy, Journal of Economic

Perspectives, Summer 2009, Vol.23, No.3, p.37-60, available at

http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.23.3.37

5 B. Craig, Cyber Law, The Law of The Internet and Information Technologies, 2013, Pearson, First Edition, Ch. 11,

p.208

6 S. Guha, B. Cheng, P. Francis, Privad, Practical Privacy in Online Advertising, Microsoft Research India, and Max

Planck Institute for Software Systems, available at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/saikat/pub/imc10-

ads/

7 J. D. Ratliff, D. L. Rubinfeld, Online Advertising: Defining Relevant Markets, available at

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Advertising_Market_Paper_Final.pdf

8 Federal Trade Commission, Dot Com Disclosures (2000), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/05/0005dotcomstaffreport.pdf

9 ICC International Code of Advertising Practice, 1997, Interpretation, available at

http://www.uscib.org/docs/Final_ICC_Comments_on_Codex_Discussion_Paper_on_Advertising.pdf