A recent Ninth Circuit decision, Chabolla v. ClassPass, Inc., underscores critical considerations for retailers with online Terms of Service / Use agreements, particularly regarding arbitration provisions and related consumer...more
IN THREE COURT DECISIONS IN THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS, two themes emerged: reading the contract before you sign and understanding the law that applies. In the first case, a court needed to decide which of two contracts...more
Want to learn more about drafting, negotiating, and understanding intellectual property and technology contracts and have 10 minutes to spare? Grab your morning coffee or afternoon tea and dig into our Tech Contract Quick...more
A number of U.S. state and federal courts have recently considered whether the manner in which companies presented to their users a variety of electronic contracts (e.g., terms of service) was sufficient to form an...more
Takeaway: Technology advances. Business processes evolve. Internet transactions become increasingly ubiquitous. Contract formation, however, remains an old-fashioned concept. An internet consumer must, at a minimum, be...more
Businesses expect to rely on the electronic contracts that consumers enter into through online transactions, including arbitration agreements and other terms of use. But, businesses are not always successful in doing so. This...more
As we have noted many times in prior articles, courts often refuse to enforce “browsewrap” agreements where terms are presented to users merely by including a link on a page or screen without requiring affirmative acceptance....more
Courts continue to grapple with the enforceability of online agreements. While courts generally enforce clickwrap agreements—online agreements where users affirmatively show their acceptance after being presented with the...more
Last week, the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court's grant of a motion to compel individual arbitration in a case that "tests the outer limits of what constitutes a 'reasonably conspicuous' provision" in an online...more
Courts throughout the country continue to express skepticism over, and go to lengths to deny the enforceability of, arbitration provisions in consumer online agreements. A recent example from the New York Supreme Court for...more
In recent years, courts have issued varying rulings as to whether online or mobile users adequately consented to user agreements or terms of service when completing an online purchase or registering for a service. In each...more
With online retailers challenging brick and mortar stores, the importance of online transactions and the terms of the contracts they create has never been greater. In the context of arbitration, courts are increasingly being...more
We previously covered the developing legal issues with browsewrap agreements and the importance of reviewing and updating any such agreement to ensure users are bound to the terms. In a browsewrap agreement, the user’s assent...more
Courts have generally categorized such online agreements into two types: “clickwrap” agreements and “browsewrap” agreements. Clickwrap agreements—which require a user to check a box or click an icon to signify agreement...more
Last week, the Southern District of New York followed a long line of precedent under New York law and upheld the enforceability of a website clickwrap agreement, granting a website operator’s motion to compel arbitration...more
In April 2015, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York defined a new category of online agreement, the "sign-in-wrap" agreement, which it distinguished from clickwrap agreements. The court then...more
In an important decision regarding the viability of so-called "browsewrap" agreements, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—which covers California, among other states—recently affirmed a district court's...more