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Are a Website’s Terms of Use Policies Enforceable | Arizona

Maria Crimi Speth | 740 Views | 03/19/2015

Hi, my name is Maria Speth and I’m attorney here at Jaburg & Wilk, and my areas of practice are intellectual property and internet law. Website terms of use may or may not be enforceable. There are a few different types of terms of use.

There’s click wrap agreements and browse wrap agreements. A click wrap agreement is the kind of agreement where the user has to actually click I agree on the website to show that they agree to the terms of use. A browse wrap agreement is it’s just there. It’s available, you can see it. You can read through it, but you don’t have to manifest an agreement to it by clicking.

Courts have been pretty clear that a click wrap agreement is enforceable because you have as a user you have agreed to those terms. Browse wrap agreements are usually not enforceable. It depends on how conspicuous they are and where they are on the website, but typically they are much harder to enforce.

So, if you have a website – especially if your website is interactive or is an E-Commerce website – I would highly recommend that you include a click wrap agreement, that actually have your users click I agree to the terms of use. Otherwise it’s likely that the court will find that it’s not enforceable. On the other hand if your website is a static website and you’re not actually either allowing somebody to post on it or allowing somebody to buy from it – then it’s not as important that you have an agreement that they can actually click on. In those cases more of a browse wrap would be acceptable.

By: Maria Speth

Are a Website’s Terms of Use Policies Enforceable | Arizona

Hi, my name is Maria Speth and I’m attorney here at Jaburg & Wilk, and my areas of practice are intellectual property and internet law. Website terms of use may or may not be enforceable. There are a few different types of terms of use.

There’s click wrap agreements and browse wrap agreements. A click wrap agreement is the kind of agreement where the user has to actually click I agree on the website to show that they agree to the terms of use. A browse wrap agreement is it’s just there. It’s available, you can see it. You can read through it, but you don’t have to manifest an agreement to it by clicking.

Courts have been pretty clear that a click wrap agreement is enforceable because you have as a user you have agreed to those terms. Browse wrap agreements are usually not enforceable. It depends on how conspicuous they are and where they are on the website, but typically they are much harder to enforce.

So, if you have a website – especially if your website is interactive or is an E-Commerce website – I would highly recommend that you include a click wrap agreement, that actually have your users click I agree to the terms of use. Otherwise it’s likely that the court will find that it’s not enforceable. On the other hand if your website is a static website and you’re not actually either allowing somebody to post on it or allowing somebody to buy from it – then it’s not as important that you have an agreement that they can actually click on. In those cases more of a browse wrap would be acceptable.

By: Maria Speth