This unique one-volume monograph offers commentary on the contract law of twenty key jurisdictions as it applies to online business. The text provides legal counsel and businesspeople with practical information about electronic transactions and contract formation, as well as a description of the country's general legal framework and an overview of the country's scheme of online business regulation. Features in-depth analysis of key practice issues - General principles of contract law - E-commerce legislation in force - Electronic transactions - Effective formation of online contracts (e-contracts) - When and how an offer is made to create an online contract - When and where an online contract is formed - Shrinkwrap and clickwrap issues - Digital signatures - Evidentiary issues - "Self-help" issues - Special provisions to include in online contracts - Legislation governing online contracts In addition to the country coverage, Online Contract Formation includes a wealth of supplementary material: sample agreements and forms, topical contract-related commentary, and source documents. Sample Forms/Agreements, including: - Checklist including tips on how to make your online agreement more enforceable - Sample click-through agreement for purchasing goods over the Internet - Sample clauses for arbitration agreements with respect to both consumer and commercial transactions - Sample terms and conditions for a website - Website development agreement - Links agreement Sample commentary, including: - Glossary of online business terms - Jurisdictional Issues in International E-Commerce Contracts - Effective Formation of Contracts by Electronic Means, and Dispute Resolution in the New E-conomy: Still More Questions than Answers Key sources/documents include: - (US) Electronic Signatures Act (ESIGA) - Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (Canada) - Canada's Uniform Law Conference of Canada Uniform Electronic Commerce Act - UNCITRAL Draft Uniform Rules on Electronic Signatures.

Is the Internet turning contract law on its head? Many commentators contend it is. Precisely this issue arises in current controversies over end user license agreements (EULAs) and Terms of Use agreements (TOUs, the agreements governing our use of web sites). Commentators complain that, in both cases, the formation process unduly restricts buyers' freedom; and, that sellers and web site owners exploit the process to impose terms that deprive consumers of important intellectual property and privacy rights. The courts ignore the criticisms and routinely enforce EULAs and TOUs. There is truth on both sides of this court/commentator divide. EULAs and TOUs are standard form contracts, and a standard contract formation process can guarantee acceptable terms and enhance freedom; however, in the case of EULAs and TOUs, the process is currently defective in ways that result in unfair terms that reduce freedom. The cornerstone of the analysis is the claim that, when certain ideal conditions are fulfilled, standard form contracting is a freedom-enhancing process yielding acceptable terms. To characterize the ideal formation process, the analysis combines ideas from both the relational theory of contracts and law and economics. Relational theory provides the picture of contracting as a norm-governed activity while an adaptation of a well-known law and economics argument to argue yields the conclusion that, in an ideal formation process, the profit-maximizing strategy for sellers and web site owners is to offer consumers norm-consistent contractual terms. I contend that norm-consistent terms are acceptable and freedom-enhancing. The theory applies equally to Internet and non-Internet contracting, and this shows that the Internet is not turning contract law on its head; however, the theory also reveals that Internet contracting poses serious, unmet challenges to contract law. The problem is that EULAs and TOUs contain terms not currently governed by appropriate norms. As a result, the EULA and TOU formation process departs from the ideal formation process in ways that result in unacceptable, freedom-reducing terms. In the case of EULAs the offending terms involve prohibitions on reverse engineering and transfers of software to third parties. It is likely that relevant norms will evolve relatively soon to govern such terms. In the case of TOUs, the offending terms concern the collection of information by businesses and web sites and implicate privacy concerns. It is unlikely that relevant norms will evolve in relatively soon in this case. How are appropriate norms to be identified or, where necessary, created? The analysis raises but does not answer this question.

The Law of E-Commerce E-Contracts , E-Business Electronic commerce raises some legal issues, including whether the contract must be in a particular form or authenticated; validity, time and place of communication; cross-offers and battle of forms. This book analyses the legal problems relating to contracts formed on the Internet, including the use of electronic agents, the enforceability of clickwrap agreements, electronic payments, and choice-of-law and jurisdiction issues. These issues are considered from the UK common law point of view and according to the SICG, UNIDROIT Principles, PECL, UNCITRAL Model Law, and the Uniform Commercial Code.

Master's Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: 72 % - Distinction , Bournemouth University (Law Academic Department), language: English, abstract: Approximately eight years ago, an electronic invention called the Internet has initiated a phenomenon of exuberant fascination and economic upturn of individuals and businesses at the same time. The steady increasing amount of online users presents a beneficial medium through which commercial entities can advertise and sell their commodities without mentionable delay. Potential consumers have borderless access to products at competitive prices independent of regional distances. Consequently, it is simply to ask the question "How do people contract over the Internet and are the familiar Common Law principles applicable?" This question is in particular in such an extent controversial and important to resolve, since there is no English court which has dealt with this subject so far. As the traditional contract law has been developed and modified due to new and unfamiliar communication means over centuries, it may be that the existing principles are hardly applicable and insufficient to determine the formation of an electronic contract. Though, it is also imaginable that courts may easily alter the contract law rules to an appropriate extent as they already did with other communication methods. This dissertation is concerned with the demanding topic of formation of contracts in the area of electronic commerce. It tackles legal issues in an environment of various forms of commercial and non-commercial activities using electronic means. As the fields of electronic commerce and practicing business online are constantly increasing all over the globe, legal issues of complex content are steadily challenging traditional law principles, courts, lawyers and legal scholars to develop governing laws and adequate solutions. The dissertation faces and investigates how existing concepts of contract law may apply to cyberspace in a variety of contractual situations and which kind of issues may occur. Hence, the dissertation endeavours to provide contributions in order to clarify imaginable e-commerce conflicts and discloses possible solutions to dispel existing uncertainties of e-commerce users. In order to determine why certain sectors of electronic commerce comprise a multitude of interesting and challenging aspects for every legal practitioner and every person operating online, it is necessary and expedient to provide a comprehensive overview of the broad field of e-commerce and to what extent the dissertation investigates present issues.

The Internet has lead to a revolution in how commerce is carried out. Whilst ecommerce is a new field of expertise, there are still general legal principles that apply to all transactions. This book looks at the changes for business brought about by ecommerce and the resulting legal framework. It examines legal issues that have to be addressed when making sales of goods over the Internet: contract law, contractual terms, capacity and authorisation, and trade practices. The Report explains the legal principles behind new ecommerce terms such as "shrinkwrap", "webwrap" and "cyberstuffing". It discusses terms such as "merchantable quality" and "s 52 of the TPA" in the context of ecommerce. The Report provides a current summary of case law developments in the ecommerce field as it applies to sales of goods and also looks at the implications of the legal principles to practical situations such as web site design, advertising, domain names, and linking and framing.

Should the "mailbox" doctrine of contract acceptance be applied in technological contexts far beyond the nineteenth century context for which it was established? Among modern contracting parties, the e-mail inbox has largely replaced the postal mailbox and the near-instantaneous process of electronic communication can mimic the characteristics of a face-to-face discussion. Such technological advancements of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries pose a challenge to the doctrinal and normative rationales articulated by the Adams v. Lindsell court and other early "mailbox" rule advocates. Moreover, the advent of electronic communication has implications even for application of the "mailbox" precedent within the framework of postal and other traditional communication systems. Only a receipt-based contracting precedent, applied to technologies both new and old, can properly enhance inter-jurisdictional legal uniformity and incentivize efficient contracting behavior.