Intellectual Property Law

BrowseWrap Agreements Enforceable

By Tim Feathers

The recent Missouri Court of Appeals case of Major v. McCallisterheld that the browse-wrap agreement (which was presented to the user at every page, and presented again when submitting the information to complete the purchase) was enforceable where the purchaser was given notice that by clicking through, she agreed to the terms and conditions.   Earlier cases, such as Sprecht v. Netscapehad reached a contrary conclusion, but under somewhat different facts.  There have been a few other cases that have addressed the issue, and we suspect that although the trend will likely follow the idea that consumers should increasingly have the expectation that those T's and C's are lurking at the bottom of the page, the best practice for website operators remains a clear indication of assent through a well designed and executed click-through agreement.

Full post as published by The TechKnowledgy Blog on March 26, 2010 (boomark / email).