P4: Describe how the proposal conforms to meet all legal and regulatory requirements
During my research I must make sure I look into several legal and regulatory issues and requirements that I may face while making my app. These are:
When it comes to a trading vehicle, I must consider how I am going to operate my business. There are more than one ways that I should consider that are relevant to me. These are:
Sole trader:
As a sole trader I would be the only person in my business, which means I am personally responsible for any debt in the business. Any profit I make from my business must be declared and these are classed as my personal income. As I would be my own business, I would not expect any salary to come into my bank account, as I am not being paid by a higher corporation, I would be making and earning my own money.
Partnership:
In a partnership there is more than one owner, and there is an agreement between the partners to what parts of the product they own. However these partnerships are usually on contract and will only usually last until that contract is up. This contract is called a partnership agreement, the partnership agreement can regulate the terms in which the partnership is run.
Tax
Different tax rules apply to each vehicle and so for a sole trader, its important to have a good understanding of finance and how taxes work, for partnerships, depending on the size of the different sides, will either also have to have a good understanding, or will have tax advisers.
Sole trader:
As a sole trader I would be the only person in my business, which means I am personally responsible for any debt in the business. Any profit I make from my business must be declared and these are classed as my personal income. As I would be my own business, I would not expect any salary to come into my bank account, as I am not being paid by a higher corporation, I would be making and earning my own money.
Partnership:
In a partnership there is more than one owner, and there is an agreement between the partners to what parts of the product they own. However these partnerships are usually on contract and will only usually last until that contract is up. This contract is called a partnership agreement, the partnership agreement can regulate the terms in which the partnership is run.
Tax
Different tax rules apply to each vehicle and so for a sole trader, its important to have a good understanding of finance and how taxes work, for partnerships, depending on the size of the different sides, will either also have to have a good understanding, or will have tax advisers.
When it comes to Confidentiality, i need to consider the necessity of putting Non-Disclosure Agreements with third parties. Outsourcing my ideas to third parties can be a risk, this is because the third parties can copy the ideas and use them. This is why having a confidentiality agreement can be useful as it regulates who is entitled to the information regarding the app, and set up a claim for rights to the app information if this information is copied or otherwise used by someone not permitted to do so.
Ownership is another important issue, as most mobile app development is outsourced to consultants or contractors, they will usually own copyright to the software they develop unless a contract provided states otherwise.
This means that a contract that will transfer all intellectual properties rights from any software developed to me, so that I own copyright to the software, as I am paying for this app to be created. I will make sure i own all the rights to my app and make sure that nobody can steal my thing or pretend that they helped, I will do this by creating a signed contract that only people who work on the project will sign as proof. There are different codes that can be use
This means that a contract that will transfer all intellectual properties rights from any software developed to me, so that I own copyright to the software, as I am paying for this app to be created. I will make sure i own all the rights to my app and make sure that nobody can steal my thing or pretend that they helped, I will do this by creating a signed contract that only people who work on the project will sign as proof. There are different codes that can be use
When it comes to intellectual property rights, there are 3 main areas of protection I should look into
Protecting my intellectual property is important which is why I must consider all of this, so nobody is able to steal my ideas and app design for their themselves and claim it to be their own original designs. Having intellectual property protection in place also makes it easier to take legal action against anyone who does use my names, ideas and process without my permission, as well as deterring others from wanting to steal the ideas, and gives me control over the product, which means I can sell it, franchise it or give people a licence to use it, after they pay a fee.
- Trademarks - for the mobile app name, company or logo
- Copyrights - for written or artistic works including the source code, content and designs.
- Patents - to protect processes and inventions which are new
Protecting my intellectual property is important which is why I must consider all of this, so nobody is able to steal my ideas and app design for their themselves and claim it to be their own original designs. Having intellectual property protection in place also makes it easier to take legal action against anyone who does use my names, ideas and process without my permission, as well as deterring others from wanting to steal the ideas, and gives me control over the product, which means I can sell it, franchise it or give people a licence to use it, after they pay a fee.
P5: Assess the ethical, social and moral impact your proposal could have on stakeholders
As well as looking into Legal issues, I must also look into ethical and moral issues since if not addressed can be just as bad for a company as legal issues.
Moral Issues
One moral issue I must consider is data privacy. As I would not want embarrassing data about myself being shared, so it would not be right for my app to do that to others, so I must make sure that the app stays private, for only the user to be able to view the data. If my app was to share this private data, not only would I be breaking the confidentiality and privacy agreement of the app, but I could also potentially be forced to face a lawsuit where I could be sued for a company and/or product destroying amount of money, which would not be good for my career or my product. This means I would have to consider who has the rights to the information and data in the users profile of the app, and in this case, it would be just the user.
Another moral issue I will have to consider, is how much data my app will use, as any app can run on minimal data but the long lasting impact would be limited by this, so I need to make sure my app is using enough data for it to run correctly and the way I need it to, but not too much so that it is too much for the customer's phone storage and/or data plan.
Another moral issue I must consider is the relevancy of my data. I must make sure that my data is still relevant as my app progresses, I can do this by doing regular review dates to ensure the app's data and app itself still serves the intended purpose, and if it doesn't, I must be flexible and agile enough to tweak the data, or its collection, so that it does serve it's purpose.
Another moral issue that I absolutely must consider is whether the app is going to promote only the "beach body" or very healthy and fit people. This is because my app is going to be an app that covers healthy eating as its main focus, which means if there is only healthy people on the apps as pictures, this would be uncomfortable and a sensitive topic for some people who not be like this. However, this would also go against what my app is about, as these photos would emphasise that "this is what you should look like" which is not what I want on my app, my app is an app for people to feel safe and private to get healthy gradually in their own time while saving money in the process. If I was to start promoting "beach body" style imagery in my app it would almost be a slur to some people, which could harm the reputation of this app and therefore I shall not include anything like this, in fact for my app there will be no images of people at all, only food and shops, as this is what my app's main focus will be on.
Ethical Issues
One ethical issue I must consider is about using other people's code. While from a legal and ethical standpoint this is stealing, which makes it illegal, there are lots of people who get away with this because people take code and then alter it, and it is then very hard for someone to know that the code was stolen. But even so, if the code that was stolen was found out, the effects of this would not only cause me to face a lawsuit, but would cause bad rep to the product and by extension, the company itself.
Social Issues
One social issue I must consider would be the information and data in which the app contains. I must make sure that the data in the app is not dealing with anything that could cause offence to the user, as this could generate slander throughout my product, and because my app is going to focus on health and well-being, I must make sure the sensitive subjects are not coming across in any way that is uncomfortable or outright offensive.
Another social issue I will have to consider is being transparent with the users of my app. As a customer won't think about this normally until they need to, so what I can have to justify what I do with their data is have a privacy policy that clearly states this, that they will read before they sign up to the app, I will then use popups and mobile notifications, and occasional emails, (should they allow emails to be sent) about reminders about the privacy policy and if there are any updates and/or changes to it.
One moral issue I must consider is data privacy. As I would not want embarrassing data about myself being shared, so it would not be right for my app to do that to others, so I must make sure that the app stays private, for only the user to be able to view the data. If my app was to share this private data, not only would I be breaking the confidentiality and privacy agreement of the app, but I could also potentially be forced to face a lawsuit where I could be sued for a company and/or product destroying amount of money, which would not be good for my career or my product. This means I would have to consider who has the rights to the information and data in the users profile of the app, and in this case, it would be just the user.
Another moral issue I will have to consider, is how much data my app will use, as any app can run on minimal data but the long lasting impact would be limited by this, so I need to make sure my app is using enough data for it to run correctly and the way I need it to, but not too much so that it is too much for the customer's phone storage and/or data plan.
Another moral issue I must consider is the relevancy of my data. I must make sure that my data is still relevant as my app progresses, I can do this by doing regular review dates to ensure the app's data and app itself still serves the intended purpose, and if it doesn't, I must be flexible and agile enough to tweak the data, or its collection, so that it does serve it's purpose.
Another moral issue that I absolutely must consider is whether the app is going to promote only the "beach body" or very healthy and fit people. This is because my app is going to be an app that covers healthy eating as its main focus, which means if there is only healthy people on the apps as pictures, this would be uncomfortable and a sensitive topic for some people who not be like this. However, this would also go against what my app is about, as these photos would emphasise that "this is what you should look like" which is not what I want on my app, my app is an app for people to feel safe and private to get healthy gradually in their own time while saving money in the process. If I was to start promoting "beach body" style imagery in my app it would almost be a slur to some people, which could harm the reputation of this app and therefore I shall not include anything like this, in fact for my app there will be no images of people at all, only food and shops, as this is what my app's main focus will be on.
Ethical Issues
One ethical issue I must consider is about using other people's code. While from a legal and ethical standpoint this is stealing, which makes it illegal, there are lots of people who get away with this because people take code and then alter it, and it is then very hard for someone to know that the code was stolen. But even so, if the code that was stolen was found out, the effects of this would not only cause me to face a lawsuit, but would cause bad rep to the product and by extension, the company itself.
Social Issues
One social issue I must consider would be the information and data in which the app contains. I must make sure that the data in the app is not dealing with anything that could cause offence to the user, as this could generate slander throughout my product, and because my app is going to focus on health and well-being, I must make sure the sensitive subjects are not coming across in any way that is uncomfortable or outright offensive.
Another social issue I will have to consider is being transparent with the users of my app. As a customer won't think about this normally until they need to, so what I can have to justify what I do with their data is have a privacy policy that clearly states this, that they will read before they sign up to the app, I will then use popups and mobile notifications, and occasional emails, (should they allow emails to be sent) about reminders about the privacy policy and if there are any updates and/or changes to it.