Website user agreements otherwise known as terms & conditions are a fundamental yet all too often overlooked piece of the e-commerce puzzle. Hopefully you will never have to argue with your customers, let alone engage in a protracted dispute but if you find yourself going down this path and you do not have comprehensive legal terms & conditions to rely on to prosecute your argument, you may wish you did.
If you cannot prove that your agreement was actually executed electronically by the user or customer, it will obviously be your word against theirs and that is a very hard thing to prove in court. It takes a very convincing witness to show an agreement without a shred of evidence. It is your responsibility to prove your allegations and for this reason, consider saving a time and date stamped copy of your electronically agreed to contracts for later use as evidence should this situation arise. This could even have the outcome of avoiding court altogether.
You need to consider all the risks you may come across and a good way to do this when drafting your terms and conditions is to make a list with all the possibilities that may arise during your working career; especially worst case scenarios but also the small, annoying problems that can occur and put your company's reputation and future at risk. For example, a very high risk is the customer not paying his fee within an acceptable time frame so make sure you instigate strict conditions about paying on time in the agreement. Consider retaining a Brisbane technology lawyer to advise you to make your life easier.
In some circumstances you may not need a complicated agreement so it is not necessary to simply copy and paste an agreement because you have seen someone else's version and it looks impressive. Think about what you are offering on your website and what may apply to the service you are offering. Something far more simple may suffice and still cover and protect your legal interests.
Finally, remember that you can't simply copy and paste an agreement you find on someone else's website without infringing the owner of the original agreement's intellectual property rights - specifically copyright law. Obviously this is an ironic situation, given that your goal was to comply with law and protect your legal affairs. Draft an original agreement or better yet buy a template (kind of like a DIY will kit) for which the owner grants you the rights to use and you can relax knowing that you have done the right thing and that your rights are still protected.
If you cannot prove that your agreement was actually executed electronically by the user or customer, it will obviously be your word against theirs and that is a very hard thing to prove in court. It takes a very convincing witness to show an agreement without a shred of evidence. It is your responsibility to prove your allegations and for this reason, consider saving a time and date stamped copy of your electronically agreed to contracts for later use as evidence should this situation arise. This could even have the outcome of avoiding court altogether.
You need to consider all the risks you may come across and a good way to do this when drafting your terms and conditions is to make a list with all the possibilities that may arise during your working career; especially worst case scenarios but also the small, annoying problems that can occur and put your company's reputation and future at risk. For example, a very high risk is the customer not paying his fee within an acceptable time frame so make sure you instigate strict conditions about paying on time in the agreement. Consider retaining a Brisbane technology lawyer to advise you to make your life easier.
In some circumstances you may not need a complicated agreement so it is not necessary to simply copy and paste an agreement because you have seen someone else's version and it looks impressive. Think about what you are offering on your website and what may apply to the service you are offering. Something far more simple may suffice and still cover and protect your legal interests.
Finally, remember that you can't simply copy and paste an agreement you find on someone else's website without infringing the owner of the original agreement's intellectual property rights - specifically copyright law. Obviously this is an ironic situation, given that your goal was to comply with law and protect your legal affairs. Draft an original agreement or better yet buy a template (kind of like a DIY will kit) for which the owner grants you the rights to use and you can relax knowing that you have done the right thing and that your rights are still protected.
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For more info on website terms and conditions particularly for Australian websites, visit Brisbane Internet Law or read more at .
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