A clickwrap agreement is a contract that requires the user to actively click on a button or link in order to agree to the terms. This is often used when a company wants to make sure that the user understands and agrees to the terms of service before they can use a product or service. Shrinkwrap agreements are used when the users need to review the terms of a contract before purchasing a physical product. This might include software applications that are sold on a CD or DVD, or other products that are packaged in a box or container.

A browsewrap agreement is slightly different in that it is created simply by the user's interaction with a website. However, this type of agreement does not require the user to take any specific action, such as clicking a button, in order to agree to the terms.

Why is it important to choose the right agreement?

When choosing a contract protection method, it's important to consider the consequences of each. Clickwrap is the most common type of contract protection and requires the user to click on a link in order to complete the transaction. If the user doesn't click on the link, they're not able to complete the transaction. Shrinkwrap contracts are similar to clickwrap contracts, but they require users to shrink the document before they can finish downloading it. Browsewrap contracts require users to browse through a set amount of pages before completing the transaction.

Let's take a look at them in details...

What is clickwrap agreement?

A clickwrap agreement is a legal contract between two parties (the seller and the buyer) that both agree to buy and sell a product or service. The user agrees to the terms of the contract by clicking on a button or link.

When to use clickwrap agreements

Clickwrap agreements are contractual agreements that are created by the clicking of a "I accept" or "agree" button on a web page. The terms of the agreement are usually displayed on the screen as well. Clickwrap agreements are typically used when there is a need to ensure that a person agrees to the terms of service before they can use the product or service. For example, in order to listen to music on Spotify, a user must agree to the company's terms and conditions.

When not to use clickwrap agreements

there are times when you should not use a clickwrap agreement. For example:

1. When your website is for personal use only and you are not selling any products or services.
2. When you are asking for personal information such as name, email address, or phone number.
3. When you want the user to review the contract before agreeing to it.

What is Browsewrap?

A browsewrap agreement is a contract formed between a website and its users that is created by the user's interaction with the website. Generally, a browsewrap agreement is only enforced if the website can prove that the user had reasonable notice of the TOS or EULA and that they consented to them by using the site.

When not to use browsewrap agreement?

While this seems like an easy way to get users to agree to terms, there are times when a browsewrap agreement should not be used.

Browsewrap agreement should not be used is when the website includes a terms of service (TOS) page that must be agreed to before using the site. This is because a browsewrap agreement does not require the user to take any specific action to agree to the terms, such as clicking on a button or checking a box. As a result, it is possible that users will not be aware of the agreement's terms and could potentially violate them without realizing it.

1. if the company wants users to agree to terms that are not visible or obvious on the website, then a browsewrap agreement should not be used.
2. if there is any dispute about what the user agreed to when using the website, it will be difficult to prove that the user agreed to anything since they did not explicitly check a box or click on a hyperlink.
3. Courts are more likely to find that a user did not agree to terms if they were not given reasonable opportunity to do so.

Click wrap vs Browser wrap Contracts

Browse wrap and data privacy laws

The browsewrap agreement is likely to be phased out because it is an ineffective and ambiguous way to obtain user consent. Under a browsewrap agreement, the user agrees to the terms and conditions of using a website by simply browsing the website. This type of agreement is ineffective because it does not require the user to take any action, such as clicking on a link or checking a box, to indicate that they have read and agree to the terms.

In Conclusion...

In conclusion, clickwrap, shrinkwrap, and browsewrap agreements are different types of online contracts. They are all used to protect the parties involved in an agreement, and they all have their own unique benefits and drawbacks. It is important to understand the differences between these three types of agreements before choosing one for your business.

Clickwrap is considered more binding than browse wrap. This is because with clickwrap, the customer has clicked on a specific button that confirms their agreement to the terms, whereas with browse wrap, they may not have even read the terms and conditions.

Create Your agreements with privacyterms.io

Privacyterm.io is a great resource for generating privacy policies and terms and conditions. The site walks you through the process of creating your documents, and provides tips and resources to help you create policies that meet your specific needs. Additionally, Privacyterm.io offers a variety of highly customizable free templates that you can use as a starting point for your own policy.

The post Clickwrap vs Browsewrap vs Shrinkwrap appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

What is a DMCA Notice?

A DMCA notice is a formal way of informing a website that they are using copyrighted material without correct authorization. It covers any copyrighted material including:

• videos
• written words
• audio
• artwork
• pictures
• software

How Does the DMCA Relate to your Website?

The DMCA is applicable to websites hosted in the United States. This means that even if your website is located outside of the USA but you are hosted within the U.S., DMCA regulations still apply to you. However if your business is located outside of the U.S. you may know this clause as a Copyright Infringement clause.

If your website allows user generated content to be published, then those users need to own the rights to that content otherwise it may be considered an infringement. If the content is actually a copyright infringement then you may receive a DMCA notice, also known as a take-down notice, from the owner of the content.

As the website owner you may also have unknowingly used copyrighted material on your website without getting proper authorization to do so.

In either case you may be required to remove the content from your website if you receive a DMCA take-down notice.

DMCA Notice Requirements

Once a copyright owner has identified their content is being used without consent they can issue a DMCA take-down notice. The take-down notice must be in written form, identifying the copyright work and the material which is infringing on this copyright and include the following:

• signed by the copyright holder or their agent
• include a description of the copyrighted material and where it is located (URL) and show location of original content (URL)
• include contact details for the person submitting the notice (name, address, email and phone number)
• an accuracy statement, the information you have included in the DMCA take-down notice is true to the best of your knowledge.
• a good faith statement, you have reason to believe that the content you are requesting to be removed has not been authorized by you, the owner.
• a statement from the person who is issuing the take-down notice that includes that the information they have submitted is accurate and that they are either the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

DMCA Clause in your Terms and Conditons

The DMCA clause can be found in the Terms and Conditions of a website. It allows copyright owners to know that your website responds to take-down notices and will remove the content if it is infringing on copyright laws.

The clause should include the DMCA requirements as shown in the image above, taken from our privacyterms.io generated Terms and Conditions and how to issue a DMCA notice.

It should also include information outlining how your users can file a DMCA counter notice, if they believe that the material has been incorrectly removed.

Does a DMCA Notice work outside of U.S.A.?

What happens in a scenario where the content has been used without consent outside of the U.S.? Or if you live outside of the U.S. and someone inside the U.S. uses your content without your consent?

In both cases you can issue a DMCA notice. The DMCA notice is really just a formal request asking for the take-down of content that has been used without approval or consent from the content owner.

If the notice is accepted and the person complies then you are done, otherwise you will need to pursue a legal course of action.

Receiving a DMCA Notice

What happens if you are the website owner and you receive a DMCA notice?

First thing is don't panic!

Check to see if the content has in fact been used without permission and then if it has remove it from your website immediately.

If you do not believe that you have used the content without consent then remove the offending content and try to attain who the content belongs to.

If the content is actually yours then you can reach out to the issuer of the DMCA take-down notice and explain the situation. The DMCA notice you will have received should have their contact details. If the notice was issued by mistake then the complainant can retract the DMCA notice. However if they react in a different way then you can issue a counter-notice.

Counter-notice

In the case that you receive a DMCA notice and you believe it is incorrect, you have reached out to the complainant and they have reacted in a negative way, you can issue a counter-notice.

The counter-notice must include the following:

• your signature
• the content you have removed and where it appeared before you removed it.
• a good faith statement explaining that you believe the content was published and/or removed due to an error.
• your contact information
• a statement from you saying that you will cooperate with the Federal District Court in your judicial district. In the case that you live outside of the U.S. you must still agree to your case being handled within the U.S.A.

The complainant now can choose to retract their DMCA notice or follow legal channels and issue a copyright lawsuit against you.

Tips for Intellectual Property

• Consider registering copyright on your intellectual material. This is not mandatory but it does make it much easier to prove the content is yours if someone uses it without your consent.
• If you are using someone else's content make sure you have the correct permissions or that the content is open source and available for use for free.
• Understand what Fair Use is and whether the content in question falls under this or not.
• In the case of your content, try reaching out to the offending website owner and requesting that the remove the unauthorized content that belongs to you. Often the offender has no idea that they are using the content unlawfully.

Conclusion

A DMCA notice is a formal way of requesting the removal of copyright infringement material from a website. It applies to website hosted in the U.S.A. even if your site os located outside of the U.S.

If you are the owner of a website then your Terms and Conditions should include a DMCA clause. this lets your users know that you honor the DMCA and how they can issue a DMCA take-down notice and how they can dispute a take-down notice via the use of a counter-notice.

If you receive a DMCA notice remove the offending content immediately while you ascertain whether you have used the content illegally or not.

If you think the notice was issued incorrectly, reach out to the complainant and explain the situation. If they continue with the complaint then you can issue a counter-notice.

Visit our Terms and Conditions generator for your DMCA clause inclusive Terms and Conditions Agreement.

The post What is a DMCA Notice and why you need it in your Terms and Conditions appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

Privacy Policy Generator

A privacy policy is a legal document that outlines your collection, use, and storage of personal data. It is required by law as soon as you collect personal data from any of your users, this includes if you are using Google Analytics to track the traffic on your website.

The privacyterms.io Privacy Policy generator is a highly customizable generator, that provides you with a comprehensive lawyer drafted privacy policy which complies with major international laws, including GDPR, CalOPPA. PIPEDA, and the Australia Privacy Act. We charge a one time fee which covers you for ALL clauses, with no ongoing annual costs.

Let's take a look at how our premium generator works:

Once you make your purchase you will be taken directly into the privacy policy generator, to this screen below:

The generator is split into 3 pages and each page has multiple sections, with check boxes and information to help you make the correct selection. The above screenshot shows the first section where you can choose to have your document in either US or UK English and you can choose whether or not you would like a Table of Contents in your Privacy Policy.

Traveling further down the page you will come to the section for Rights for Non EU Residents, CalOPPA and the comprehensive Cookie Policy Section. Once again you make your selections based on the individual needs of your website.

Continuing on to page 1, there is a Third Part Opt Out Section, where you can select the third parties you share cookies with and give your users the links to opt out of tracking services for these third parties. Next there is a selection of general clauses which include no personal data from children, changes and updates to the policy plus more. When you have made all of your selections you press the continue button on the bottom right of the screen.

You are now on page 2 where you will begin the very comprehensive Personal Data section. Here you can select the type of personal data your website collects, how you collect the personal data from your users, how you use the personal data you have collected, whether you share personal data with any third parties and of so who, and if you retain data, what period of time this is done for. Below is an image of the very beginning of this section:

Traveling down the page you will complete sections "Data Security", then "Non Personal Data", where you can select what non personal data you collect and disclose how you use that data. There is also a large section for "Other Data Clauses" which includes options for account data, transactions and payment data, customer relationship data and many more. Finally you come to the "GDPR compliance" section, part of which is shown below:

The GDPR section allows you to add all of the required Data Privacy Rights, data protection clause and international transfer of personal data, to be compliant with GDPR. Once you have completed the GDPR section then press the continue button in the bottom right of the screen.

Finally you will move onto page 3, where you will complete your company details and the contact information that will be shown in your privacy policy.

You will now need to agree to the terms of privacyterms.io and then click the "get document" button on the bottom left of your screen.

At the review stage you can read through your document and make any adjustments using our editor, if required.

You will also see, along the bottom of the screen, your choice of how to use your privacyterms.io Privacy Policy. You can choose to copy the link by clicking on copy link and then pasting into a new tab, which you can then link to via your website or app. This brings you to the screenshot below.

Alternatively you can select to copy the HTML code, which you can then paste onto a page in your website's content management system or an html file.

You can also copy the rich text and paste this into a rich text editor like WordPress, or word and make any adjustments to the document you like then copy paste and publish.

The privacyterms.io Privacy Policy is now yours to keep, with no ongoing fees or charges.

Terms and Conditions

Unlike a privacy policy, the terms and conditions agreement is not required by law, however that is not a good reason to ignore having one. The terms and conditions agreement provides protection for you as well as clearly defining the rules and conditions for use of your website and service. Take a look at our article 8 reasons you need a Terms and Conditions Agreement, for more information. We also only charge a one time fee for this policy, which covers you for ALL clauses, with no ongoing annual costs.

The privacyterms.io Terms and Conditions Generator is also 3 pages long, each page divided into sections. It is once again a very comprehensive generator which provides you with a lawyer drafted terms and conditions agreement that suits the needs of your website.

Page 1 just requires the company details and location information that will be used on your document.

Page 2 of the generator form is where you will spend the majority of your time. It is divided into 14 sections, all with multiple selection options.

You will begin with the Introduction & Accessibility section where you can choose once again from US or UK English as well as stating your legal jurisdiction, which is of utmost importance when creating your terms agreement.

You will also complete the section "Definitions" which as it sounds, defines the terms used in your terms and conditions agreement.

Scrolling down the page you will next come to the section "User Rights and Responsibilities" here you can select what is acceptable usage and what is prohibited usage for your website. This is followed by the More Options section, which includes your choice to add a disclaimer, terms for registered users and the requirement for written consent for the use of your trademarks.

The next section is Content, where you can disclose the terms for the content found on your site, options include content ownership and content take down amongst others. There is a small section for "Security" which allows you to add a clause disclosing your terms on security.

The following section is "E-Commerce and Payments" If you select "yes" to engaging in E-Commerce activities then you will open up the section shown above, where you can select to disclose your terms for billing information, payment terms and to include a refund policy.

The following section allows you to disclose the type of security measures in place. Following this is a section is for subscription based services followed by a Dispute Resolution and Termination section, part of which can be seen in the screenshot below.

Traveling further down page 2 you will come to the DMCA Notice section, which allows you to include a DMCA notice in your terms and conditions agreement. This is followed by the Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Notice section, the Limitations of Liability section, the Indemnity Section and finally the Essentials section which is full of essential clauses to add to your Terms and Conditions agreement.

The final page of privacyterms.io terms and conditions generator is the Contact Information and Agreement sections. Here you complete your contact details for your terms and conditions agreement and agree to the terms of privacyterms.io.

Once you have completed this section then you click on the "Get Document" button in the bottom right of the screen.

You are now at the review stage where you can read through your document and make any adjustments using our editor, if required.

You will see that there are 3 options for copying your terms and conditions along the bottom of the page. If you choose the "Copy Link" then click on copy link and paste into a new tab in your browser, which you can then link to via your website or app. This brings you to the following screen below.

You can also copy the rich text and paste this into a rich text editor like WordPress, or word and make any adjustments to the document you like then copy paste and publish.

The privacyterms.io Terms and Conditions Agreement is now yours to keep, with no ongoing fees or charges.

Disclaimer Generator

Disclaimers are statements that reduces legal liability for your company. They help to protect the services you are providing and the information you are sharing on your site. They identify areas of your business that may be misunderstood by your users and let them know you will not be liable for any misunderstandings.

The privacyterms.io Disclaimer generator works a little differently to the other two generators on our site. It is a mixture of 10 free and 10 paid disclaimers.

This is the screen that you will land on, once you have selected the disclaimer generator:

Complete your details, select your language preference and chooses whether or not you want a table of contents. Once you have completed this form press the Continue button in the bottom right of your screen and you will be taken to the Choose Clauses screen as shown below:

You will now need to go through each section of the Disclaimer generator and select yes or no to each option. The first section is "Your Content" and all three disclaimers in this section are free. Next is the specialty section of "Finances, Promotion & Investment", where both disclaimers are premium.

This is followed by "Blogging and E-Commerce" which is a mixture of free and premium disclaimers and then "Nature of Content", also a mixture of free and premium disclaimers where you can add specific clauses to cover your blog or website of you include information on the topics of health and fitness, medical topics or legal content, as seen below:

The last section for disclaimers is "Social Media and Third Party Content". There are a selection of both free and premium disclaimers in this section also.

If you would like an explanation of the disclaimers in our generator and what they are used for them please read our comprehensive post Disclaimer Examples with Samples

Once you have made your selections click the Continue button on the bottom right of your screen.

This brings you to the final page of the generator where you add a link to you contact page and email and agree to the terms of privacyterms.io

If you have made any premium selections you will notice in the bottom right that the charge for your disclaimers is on the Generate button. If you have not made any premium selection then the button will just say Generate.

Click on the Generate button and you are taken to the following screen for premium disclaimers to make your purchase:

For free Disclaimers you will be taken directly to your document page and once the payment has been made on the premium disclaimers you will also be take to this page.

You will see that there are 3 options for copying your Disclaimer along the bottom of the page. If you choose the "Copy Link" then click on copy link and paste into a new tab in your browser, which you can then link to via your website or app. Otherwise you can copy the html code or rich text and add these to the back end of your WordPress site as a page.

All of the privacyterms.io generators are very comprehensive and customisable, covering important legal aspects of your blog, website or online business. They have been drafted by a lawyer to ensure they cover the necessary aspects of your online business and comply with major international data laws.

Our policies are a one time low cost, with no ongoing fees and we give you opportunity to host your documents free of charge on our server, or self host, whichever works best for you. Make sure you get your online asset covered today with our premium legal documents.

The post How to Create Your Legal Documents with the privacyterms.io Generators appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

The Terms and Conditions Agreement serves many purposes and as a blog owner there are some that are specifically helpful to you. All blogs should have a terms and conditions agreement, (also known as a terms of service agreement) especially if your site allows user comments, has user accounts, or sells any products. Read on to find out what your terms and conditions agreement should include.

Use of Website

In the use of website clause you lay out the specific terms of use for your blog. This includes using your website for lawful purposes, that use or access to your website doesn’t include the right to use or sell any of your content, the right to monitor behaviour on your website in order to enforce the contract.

Prohibited Use

Here is an opportunity for you to list any behaviours or actions which will not be tolerated on your website. These could include disrupting your website or servers in anyway, harassment, abuse or violence in any form, misrepresentation of self or interfering with another person’s use of the website, just as a few examples.

Users Comments

Most bloggers encourage feedback and participation on their site and therefore most blogs have users comments. A terms and conditions agreement helps minimize the legal risks associated with these comments. Users comments may contain copyrighted material which infringes upon copyright laws and your terms and conditions agreement can contain a clause requiring users to warrant that they are the owner of all intellectual property rights or have sufficient rights to grant the license to the content before posting.

You are also outlining to your users that users comments do not represent your views and are not endorsed by you.

Accounts

If your blog has accounts for your users to log into the website then adding a clause regarding the use of their accounts is recommended.

Include in this section that the user is responsible for the security and confidentiality of their password and account details, that they will agree to contact you if they become aware of any unauthorized use of their account, and if you use a tool which allows sign up through a third party service, such as Facebook or Google then this needs to be included.

Your Content

You have no doubt spent a lot of time creating content for your blog ad therefore you need to protect your hard work. Add a clause into your Terms and Conditions agreement outlining the terms around use of your content.

Things you may wish to include in this clause are that all of the content, apart from user content, is owned by you, that your content must remain your exclusive property, it will not be modified, copy, distribute or modify the content in any way is not permitted by copyright law.

In agreeing to the terms and conditions of using your site, your user will be agreeing to refrain from reproducing, distributing, selling or publishing the material found on your website without the written consent from you.

Intellectual Property Rights

Include a clause in your terms and conditions contract which protects your intellectual property.

Intellectual property encompasses all of the material on your blog. This includes words, information, graphics, design and logos.

Let your users know that your intellectual property is protected under copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws.

Limitations of Liability

An important clause for any website, including a blog, a limitations of liability clause helps to remove responsibility from you for the use of your website. The clause explains that you are not responsible or liable for any damages to equipment used by your users through the use of your website. Nor are you liable in any way for any other damages that may arise out of the use of your website.

Your readers are advised to stop using your website if they have any problem with the website or the content contained on your website.

Links to and from your Blog

It is a good idea to have clauses included in your terms and conditions agreement that cover links that are linking to your blog from third party websites or external links from your blog to third party websites.

It is in your best interests to include in the links clause that the user warrants that the site they are linking to you from does not contain any harmful, pornographic, hateful or abusive material. You also should include that the links from the third party website to yours give the third party website no rights to your site.

It is also important that your users understand that when they are clicking an external link from your website to a third party website, that you are not responsible for the trustworthiness of this external website and that your user should evaluate the trustworthiness of the third party website before disclosing any personal information to them.

Minimum Age Requirement

In line with the COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and GDPR, it is in your best interests to include a Minimum Age Requirement clause in your terms and conditions agreement. In this clause state that your website is only for use of those 13 years and older in the US and 16 years and older in the European Union. By agreeing to this agreement, your users are representing themselves as at least the age required for use of your blog.

Jurisdiction and Governing Law

It’s important to identify which laws your blog falls under. Any claims relating to the use of your blog are therefore governed by these laws.

Refund Policy

If you happen to be a blogger who sells any products, either digital or physical then adding a refund policy to your Terms and conditions is a must. Do you offer refunds? Do you offer exchanges? If so then your refund policy will outline the terms for these refunds and exchanges and if you do not offer either then your terms and conditions agreement should also outline this.

Benefits of having a terms and conditions agreement on your blog

There are a number of reasons that having a terms and conditions agreement on your blog is beneficial. Lets take a look at a few of them.

Trust

Having a terms and conditions agreement increase the trust factor of your blog. Your users have access to the rules governing the use of your website, what is expected of them and what they can expect from you in return (for example your refund policy and behaviours you do and don’t tolerate. It is this transparency that helps to create an increased level of trust.

Protect your content

As a blogger you spend hours creating content form your website. It is only fair that you should protect this content from being stolen or misused by others. Adding the Our Content and Intellectual Property Rights clauses goes a long way to helping you protect what is rightfully yours.

Prevent Abuse

By adding clauses that indicate your rules of conduct, such as the Use of Website clause and the Prohibited Use clause, and the Users Content clause, you are outlining the type of behaviour that you expect from your users and expressing the types of behavior that will not be tolerated.

Examples of abusive behaviour could be posting defamatory content, making abusive comments to other users or even attempting to infect your website with malware of some type.

Having all of this information in your terms and conditions agreement will make is much easier for you to take action based on the type of incident that occurs.

Limit your Liability

A Terms and Conditions agreement is a legally binding contract between the user and you. Having this agreement therefore reduces the chances of any legal action against you.

The Limitation of Liability clause explains to your users that your website is not responsible for any errors in content, or damages to the user or the users property.

Conclusion

By now you should be able to see why having a terms and conditions agreement on your blog is a good idea. It not only goes a long way in protecting your work but it also makes life simpler and easier for you and your users when there are rules and guidelines to follow.

Our terms and conditions generator is highly customizable and include all of the necessary clauses you will require to ensure your blog is covered.

The post Do You Need Terms and Conditions for Blogs? appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

Yes, Terms and Conditions are legally binding as long as they are presented to the user in an obvious manner and written in a specific way.

Lets delve a little deeper into what this means.

The Presentation of the Terms and Conditions Agreement

In order for the Terms and Conditions Agreement to be legally binding, they must be made obvious to the user. It is the duty of the website owner to do all that they can possibly do to ensure the terms and conditions are made visible to the user. Therefore adding a link to the Terms and Conditions Agreement in your website footer won't actually cut it.

There are two ways that the Terms and Conditions can be presented in an appropriate manner to the user; clickwrap agreements and browsewrap agreements.

Clickwrap Agreements

A clickwrap agreement is an online contract between the website and user. The Terms and Conditions Agreement is presented to the user and they need to click the "I Agree" or "I Accept" button to continue. The clickwrap agreement usually contains both a check box and a notice advising you that you are agreeing to the website terms by clicking the box. The user does have the choice to not agree to the Terms and Conditions but they will then no longer be able to use the service or purchase the product.

A clickwrap agreement allows contracts to be made online between the user and website owner, without the need for physical paper and pen.

Browsewrap Agreement

A browsewrap agreement is also an online contract between the website and the user, however unlike the clickwrap agreement, they require no action on behalf of the user. The browsewrap agreement is simply the use of the website means consent to the terms and conditions.

A browsewrap agreement is more likely to be enforceable if it complies with the following:

• it is located in a conspicuous manner, not hidden at the bottom of the page in the footer.
• it's easy to access
• any hyperlink of the terms and conditions must take users directly to the Terms and Conditions agreement
• and it clearly tells the user that their continued use of the website acts as an agreement to the terms and conditions laid out in the Terms and Conditions agreement.
• The Terms and Conditions must be in a readable sized font of a minimum of 12 point.
• the website reminds the user to read the terms of service before they make a purchase of goods or services on the website.

The Clauses of the Terms and Conditions Agreement

The Terms and Conditions Agreement cannot be vague in how it makes changes to it's agreement, if it is to be considered enforceable. It is not enough to state in the Terms and Conditions agreement that the website may update the terms and conditions from time to time and that the user therefore needs to check in on them every so often.

You must add a clause which informs your users of how you will notify them if you make any changes to the Terms and Conditions agreement. You may choose to inform them via e-mail, or put a notice on your website that changes have been made, the choice is yours, but it must be obvious.

Elements of an Enforceable Contract

In order to enforce your website Terms and Conditions your contract must include all required elements of an enforceable contract, which are:

1. The offer: this is the beginning of the contract and is the proposed arrangement between the parties. This should include the defining terms of the contract.
2. Acceptance: The acceptance needs to be communicated from the website to the user, that by continued use of the website, they are agreeing to the terms and conditions laid out.
3. Consideration: The website and the user are exchanging something of value with one another. In majority of cases this will be a product or service in exchange for money.
4. Competence/Capacity: The user must have the ability to enter into a contract and this most commonly refers to age. Persons under the age of 18 are too young to enter into a contract.
5. Mutual Consent: The user must freely consent to the contract.
6. Legality: The terms and conditions agreement will only be enforceable if the activity of the website is legal.
7. Written: The Terms and Conditions agreement must be made in writing.

Takeaways

To help your Terms and Conditions be enforceable for website owners are as follows:

• be explicit: provide all essential information (and more) in a clear, easy to read manner.
• elements of an enforceable contract: ensure your terms and conditions includes all elements of an enforceable contract.
• be conspicuous: place your Terms and Conditions agreement in a noticeable place.
• consider a clickwrap agreement: have your users consent to having read and agreed to your terms and conditions before continuing with their purchase or use of your website.
• changes to the contract: include how you will notify your users of a change in the terms and conditions, in the Terms and Conditions contract.

The post Are Terms and Conditions Legally Binding? appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

The Terms and Conditions on your website acts as a legal contract between you and your users. They include:

• guidelines for acceptable behavior
• the rights and responsibilities of the user
• confidentiality outlines
• privacy policy
• intellectual property rights
• copyright
• cancellation policy
• refund policy
• and much more

So let's take a look at a few key reasons you should consider when writing your Terms and Conditions and what they mean for your business.

Reason 1. Trust

The Terms and Conditions contract gives your business a higher level of professionalism. Transparency results in increased levels of customers confidence, satisfaction and trust in you and your business.

The Terms and Conditions contract makes it easy for your users to know what to expect from you and what you expect from them. For example take a look at Amazon's Product Descriptions in their Terms and Conditions.

As you can see this makes it very clear to the user what recourse they have available to them should the item received not be as described.

This provides a level of protection to your company if you are enforcing a particular section in your terms.

Reason 2. Protect Your Content

The Terms and Conditions contract protects all of the content on your website, other than user generated content. This content includes your logo, the design of your website, graphics, audio and video clips, and your written content.

In agreeing to the terms and conditions of using your site, your user will need to agree to not reproduce, distribute, sell, publish or broadcast any of the material found on this website without the written consent from you.

This content is protected under international copyright laws. It is usually found under the heading Intellectual Property. Let's take a look at Apple's Intellectual Property clause:

As you can see Apple's Terms and Conditions clearly outline the company's intellectual property and clearly explains that it is all owned by the company.

Reason 3. Limit Liability

Having a Terms and Conditions agreement ensures your users are aware of the rules outlining your service and content. The agreement is a legally binding contract between the user and yourself, which therefore reduces the chances of any legal action against you. Limiting your liability, even just a fraction, is obviously better than leaving yourself vulnerable by not including this in your Terms and Conditions agreement.

Let's take a look at YouTube's Limitation of Liability clause:

The Limitation of Liability clause notifies users that your website is not responsible for any errors in content, damages to the user or the users property or that the information provided is accurate and suitable for any purpose.

Reason 4. Prevent Abuse

The Terms and Conditions contract should include a clause which outlines the rules of conduct that the user must adhere to while using your site. This should include providing false information, impersonating another person, unauthorized advertising, spamming, stealing content or attempting to upload harmful computer codes or viruses and other types of abusive conduct.

Should your site include the availability for users to comment or add content, you can include a clause that lets users know that abusive or profane language will not be tolerated. This behaviour could result in the user facing temporary or permanently banned.

The following example is from BuzzFeed's comprehensive section on Rules of Conduct:

This clause clearly states what conduct is expected when users access the BuzzFeed website and what type of conduct will not be tolerated.

Reason 5. Termination or Suspension of Account

A Termination and Suspension clause is particularly useful for website with a registration or account section. It clarifies what rights you and your user have when terminating or suspending an account. Can the contract be ended at any time? Does notice need to be given by either of you?

The Termination and Suspension clause will also direct your users on what action they can take if they find themselves with a suspended or terminated account and direct them to what procedure to follow should they feel they were suspended or terminated incorrectly.

Once again let's take a quick look at BuzzFeed's Terms and Conditions to see what a termination clause may look like.

Reason 6. Governing law

It's important to identify which laws your website or business falls under. This usually refers to the country you are based in. So for example, let's take a look at YouTube's Governing Law clause:

So if your website is based in London UK, or Sydney, Australia you would usually state those countries as the governing law.

However it is not necessary to use the law of the country you reside in as your governing law, you are actually free to choose. There may be technical reasons why a particular jurisdiction is chosen but ultimately the choice is yours and is usually a law which you would be familiar with.

Reason 7. Clearly Define Billing Terms

Should your website include paid memberships, an online store or any other form of payments you will want to include a clause covering billing or payment terms. Within this clause you you will want to cover topics such as payment methods, refunds, and billing cycles.

The sections should be clearly labeled and easily understood. What payment methods does your website accept? Do you issue refunds under any circumstances and if so what are they?

Here is a part of Netflix’s Billing section in their Terms and Conditions.

As you can see Netflix have made their refund policy very clear by having written that they will not issue refunds any under circumstance in capitals. The user, having agreed to these terms and conditions, will have no recourse in requesting a refund.

Reason 8. Enforcement of Agreement

Having an agreement statement of use in your Terms and Conditions contract allows you to enforce your policies and determine whether there has been a breach of contract. Should you be in a situation where you need to take a customer court in order to obtain a payment or have the contract violated in some way then this contract will help avoid problems.

Here is Microsoft's agreement statement of use:

Your agreement statement is placed at the beginning of your Terms and Conditions contract so it's the first thing your user will see when they read to these. By using your website and services the user is agreeing to the terms and conditions laid out in the agreement.

Conclusion

We have listed many of the reasons that a Terms and Conditions Agreement is important for your website. Help limit your liability, gain your users trust and confidence and protect your content by generating your Terms and Conditions Agreement today.

The post 8 Reasons You Need a Terms and Conditions Agreement appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.

Generate your own custom Terms and Conditions

Your terms and conditions should be easy to understand and should not be written using any ambiguous language.

What are Terms and Conditions?

Your terms and conditions template document allows you to spell out a set of rules for your users. These set of rules - 'terms and conditions' can be the rules for your services, sales or something as simple as the use of your website. To confirm that your users understand and accept these rules, you must get them to click "Agree".

What should I include in my Terms and Conditions Agreement?

Every business or individual has their own requirements on what they need to include in their terms and conditions. Depending on your business here's a common list of clauses that you may include in your terms and conditions template...

1. Introduction
   • Specify the scope of your Terms and conditions agreement
   • An explanation of the terms you are using in your terms and conditions document
2. Usage of the website
   • Policy for hyperlinking to your content
   • Use of iframes - iframe html tag
   • Your policy for allowing or disallowing the penetration testing of your network
3. Purchases and other ecommerce related terms
   • Returns
   • Disputes
   • Refunds
4. Disclaimers related to the delivery of your services and products
5. Guidelines for using your trademarks, license and copyrights
6. Your terms around piracy and counterfeit products
7. User Generated Content; You must specify your policy on the following (but not limited to) issues
   • intellectual property infringements
   • anonymous bullying
   • Pornographic content
8. Feedback & Contact
9. Removal of content from your website

Terms and Conditions Template Examples

Below are some terms and conditions template examples specific to the terms mentioned above. If you are looking for Samples, please take a look at our terms and conditions template examples.

Terms and conditions Introduction example

dc.gov's terms and conditions introduction paragraph look like:

Your access to and use of the District of Columbia (the “District”) website (the “Site”) is subject to the following terms and conditions, as well as all applicable laws. Your access to the Site is in consideration for your agreement to these Terms and Conditions of Use, whether or not you are a registered user. By accessing, browsing, and using the Site, you accept, without limitation or qualification, these Terms and Conditions of Use.

Source: dc.gov/page/terms-and-conditions-use

Terms and Conditions Template License example

dc.gov also provides us with an example template for the license clause.

Terms and Conditions - Hyperlinking example

Usually most websites welcome the hyperlinks to and from others as they are beneficial in terms of SEO and gaining visibility on the web. However, there may be conditions where this may be harmful to your or the party you're linking to in one way or the other. For this reason, not only should you include terms that state your terms for hyperlinking to your website but also check the hyperlinking terms of the party you're linking to.

We could not include a screenshot or content for this clause due to the content and hyperlink permission restrictions from the websites this policy was appearing on but you can find some examples of these by doing a google search for: intitle:"Hyperlink Policy"

Terms and Conditions - User Generated Content Example

Terms and Conditions - Feedback and contact Example

You may use this clause to state your terms related to the feedback or the communication of any other form from your customers/users.

Here's an example of how airbnb uses this clause to clarify their terms:

getfeedback.com does something similar:

Terms and Conditions - Returns and Refunds Policy Example

If you have an online store, it is recommended you include a clause for your returns and refunds terms.

Ebay has a dedicated returns and refunds page

You should also state, very clearly in your terms how you go about dealing with the refund requests.

Here's an excerpt from Amazon's refund policy:

Asos.com, a clothing retailer gives more specific instructions and states their expectations regarding their expectations on the hygiene, cleanliness and proof of postage. Following is an excerpt but if you own a clothing store, it's a must read.

How to create your own terms and conditions?

Head over to our terms and conditions generator to create your own terms and conditions.

The post How to Create your own Terms agreement appeared first on PrivacyTerms.io.