Topic
Click wrap
About: Click wrap is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26 publications have been published within this topic receiving 203 citations.
Papers
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the implications of click wrap contracts on our understanding of contractual commitment, and on the law that determines which commitments are binding in electronic commerce, and present some proposed legislative solutions, including UCITA and UETA.
Abstract: Contracts in electronic commerce do not look like the traditional contract theory picture of a meeting of the minds or autonomous consent. Increasingly, deals are being made between a human and a computer, or between two computers managed only remotely by humans. This paper addresses the implications of that trend on our understanding of contractual commitment, and on the law that determines which commitments are binding. Specifically, the paper addresses (a) "click wrap" contracts, which purport to be formed by on-screen acts such as clicking on a button labeled "I agree," or even by the mere act of visiting a web site; (b) "machine-made" contracts, which are formed directly by software programs acting as "agents" for humans or for firms; and (c) "viral contracts," in which restrictions on use are built directly into a software product or other digitized information content, thereby purporting to bind all subsequent users (as well as the initial purchaser). Each of these has analogies in pre-electronic law -- for example, in contracts of adhesion; in the actions of shipping clerks in the so-called "battle of the forms;" and in covenants running with real property. But each of these pre-electronic practices is usually viewed as an exception to our "normal" picture of contract formation. The current trends in electronic contracting threaten to make those exceptions the rule. This paper distinguishes between autonomy-based theories of contract, in which all of the above practices are highly problematic, from efficiency-based theories, in which many of these practices are not (necessarily) problematic at all. It also draws an analogy to Calabresi and Melamed's distinction between property rules and liability rules: the contract-formation issue is, in many respects, a question about what one party may or must do in order to alter the legal rights of another. Finally, the paper also describes and critiques some proposed legislative solutions, including the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).
48 citations
Patent•
21 Apr 2000
TL;DR: In this article, an online click wrap electronic agreement that a user must agree to prior to being registered as a volunteer and considered as a potential candidate in a clinical trial or research study is presented.
Abstract: An on-line click wrap electronic agreement that a user must agree to prior to being registered as a volunteer and considered as a potential candidate in a clinical trial or research study. The agreement authorizes the release of the end user's medical and/or personal information to representatives of the clinical trials and research studies for which the volunteer may be considered as a potential candidate. After receiving the end user's consent to the click wrap agreement an electronic survey form is generated by a secure server and displayed at the end user's computer terminal. Responses by the end user to the survey form are kept secure as much as possible while being transmitted from the computer terminal across the network to the server and while stored and accessed only by authorized personnel at the central office.
26 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the implications of click wrap contracts on our understanding of contractual commitment, and on the law that determines which commitments are binding in electronic commerce, and present some proposed legislative solutions, including UCITA and UETA.
Abstract: Contracts in electronic commerce do not look like the traditional contract theory picture of a meeting of the minds or autonomous consent. Increasingly, deals are being made between a human and a computer, or between two computers managed only remotely by humans. This paper addresses the implications of that trend on our understanding of contractual commitment, and on the law that determines which commitments are binding. Specifically, the paper addresses (a) "click wrap" contracts, which purport to be formed by on-screen acts such as clicking on a button labeled "I agree," or even by the mere act of visiting a web site; (b) "machine-made" contracts, which are formed directly by software programs acting as "agents" for humans or for firms; and (c) "viral contracts," in which restrictions on use are built directly into a software product or other digitized information content, thereby purporting to bind all subsequent users (as well as the initial purchaser). Each of these has analogies in pre-electronic law -- for example, in contracts of adhesion; in the actions of shipping clerks in the so-called "battle of the forms;" and in covenants running with real property. But each of these pre-electronic practices is usually viewed as an exception to our "normal" picture of contract formation. The current trends in electronic contracting threaten to make those exceptions the rule. This paper distinguishes between autonomy-based theories of contract, in which all of the above practices are highly problematic, from efficiency-based theories, in which many of these practices are not (necessarily) problematic at all. It also draws an analogy to Calabresi and Melamed's distinction between property rules and liability rules: the contract-formation issue is, in many respects, a question about what one party may or must do in order to alter the legal rights of another. Finally, the paper also describes and critiques some proposed legislative solutions, including the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).
25 citations
TL;DR: A review of U.S. case law found that the web-based approach used by most hotel companies to alert customers to the terms and conditions for making an internet reservation might not hold up in the event of a lawsuit.
Abstract: A review of U.S. case law finds that the web-based approach used by most hotel companies to alert customers to the terms and conditions for making an internet reservation might not hold up in the event of a lawsuit. Most courts will enforce a so-called click wrap covenant when an individual makes a reservation or purchase on the company website. In the click wrap procedure, a reservation cannot be completed until the customer clicks the “agree” button to the terms and conditions of sale. However, most hotel websites use a slightly different approach, known as “browse wrap,” in which the terms and conditions are available on the site but the reservation can be completed without the customer's express assent. The terms and conditions usually dictate the controlling legal jurisdiction or mandate arbitration for disagreements, and thus it is in the hotel company's interest to demonstrate that would-be guests have read and definitively agreed to those terms and conditions.
20 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2008 | 2 |