Terms of Service Generator

A Terms of Service Policy is a legal contract between the website or business owner and the user. It may also be known as a Terms and Conditions Agreement or a Terms of Use Agreement.

Terms of Service, unlike Privacy Policies, are not a legal requirement however it is advisable to have them. They help reduce legal liability and protect your content. They outline what you expect from your users and what will not be tolerated. Without a Terms of Service contract it's pretty difficult to enforce rules and requirements with your Users.

There are many reasons that a terms and conditions agreement is useful. Here are a few of the main reasons: 1. Limit Liability: by having a Terms and Conditions Agreement in place you reduce the chances of legal action being taken against your website. Read our article Are Terms and Conditions Legally Binding? to find out how to help make your Terms and Conditions enforceable. 2. Outline Users Rights and Responsibilities: a Terms and Conditions Agreement allows you to outline acceptable usage of your website as well as accountability if the rules are not followed and arbitration in case of disputes. Without the agreement how will you enforce these rules? 3. Protect Your Content: including an intellectual property rights and copyright clause in your Terms and Conditions agreement helps protect the content of your website. Your users are agreeing not to reproduce, sell or distribute your content without first obtaining consent from you. 4. Helps Prevent Abuse: When you have a Terms and Conditions Agreement in place, you have the ability to enforce your policies and determine whether there has been a breach of contract or not. Without the terms and conditions agreement there are no policies for your users to adhere to. 5. Promote Trust: a website with a Terms and Conditions Agreement in place promotes greater trust and confidence in your users. Your website has a higher level of professionalism.

The Terms and Conditions Agreement needs to include clauses relevant to the type of business you are running. Some clauses that will need to be included are: 1. Acceptable use 2. The rights and responsibilities of the user 3. Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights 4. Refund Policy 5. Disclaimers 6. Links to and from your website 7. Limitation of Liability 8. Minimum Age Requirements 9. DMCA for US based websites

Although they are both legal agreements between the website owner and user, a Terms of Service Agreement is not the same as a Privacy Policy. The Terms of Service Policy outlines the proper use of your website and helps to protect your business. A Privacy Policy outlines how and why you collect personal data from your users and where this data is stored.

As both of these Agreements deal with different subject matter, it is not advisable to create a joint Privacy Policy/Terms of Service agreement. For one, this would be a very long document for your users to read and agree to and secondly the Privacy Policy is required by law whereas the terms and conditions agreement is not.

Your Terms of Service should be placed in a noticeable location on your website. Most websites add them as a hyperlink (a link to another web page) in the footer, however this is not ideal as it is required that your terms and conditions be conspicuous. There are two ways in which you can display your terms and conditions agreement so they may be most likely to be enforceable. These are: 1. A Clickwrap Agreement: This form of agreement includes a click box or check box, which must be clicked on by the user indicating that they have read and agree to the websites Terms and Conditions before they can proceed any further on the website. 2. A Browsewrap Agreement: This type of agreement doesn't require any action on behalf of the user but instead indicates that by usage of the website the terms and conditions are agreed to. The hyperlink to the website's Terms and Conditions should be very conspicuous, must take the user directly to the Terms and Conditions Agreement and clearly state that by continuing to use the website and it's services, the user is agreeing to the Terms and Conditions.