Law Commons^™

Finding Common Ground In The World Of Electronic Contracts: The Consistency Of Legal Reasoning In Clickwrap Cases, Robert L. Dickens

ExpressO

Electronic contractual arrangements have raised complex legal issues unprecedented in the law. Technology s impact on traditional contract law doctrines is readily apparent in the dilemmas generated by recent developments in computer software, hardware, and Internet transactions. In such transactions, sellers have increasingly begun utilizing “clickwrap” agreements, whereby standard terms and conditions are displayed on the computer screen when the user attempts to access the seller’s services. Not surprisingly, the enforceability of clickwrap terms, which are often not known to the user until after payment, has become a subject of much debate in the courts. Because many of the clickwrap …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Technoconsen(T)Sus, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

ExpressO

Law is contributing to an information security paradox. Consumers are regularly “consenting” to the installation of computer code that makes them more vulnerable to harms such as identity theft. In particular, digital rights management technology accompanying digital music has recently left a wake of compromised user machines. Using the case study of security-invasive digital rights management technology, this article argues that a fundamental tension exists among intellectual property law, computer intrusion law and contract law regarding meaningful consumer consent in digital contexts. This article proposes to ease the noise in consent doctrine through creating an objective “reasonable digital consumer” standard …

Open Source, Free Software And Contractual Issues, Jose Javier González De Alaiza

ExpressO

“Free software” is an increasingly used form to license computer programs, which on the one hand gives users the rights to use, modify and redistribute the program; and, on the other, forces any person redistributing an original or modified version of the program to license it with the same rights. Such a forced obligation is introduced through the so called “copyleft clause” and, basically, uses Copyright in a creative way to achieve freedom instead of control.

This paper discusses the “free software” foundations and contractual issues. The discussion is structured in two main parts and Conclusion. In Part II, the …

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Survey Of The Law Of Cyberspace: Electronic Contracting Cases 2005-2006, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the judicial decisions involving Internet and other electronic contracts during the period from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006. The authors explain that this year's cases show a maturation of the common law of electronic contracts in that the judges are beginning to recognize the realities of electronic communications and to apply traditional contract principles to those communications unless the realities of the technology justifies a different result.