shrinkwrap/EULAs – Overlawyered

By entering the premises, you have consented

Walter Olson — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 04:05:00 +0000

Found this two years ago, near a college dining hall. from r/ScarySigns

Very comprehensive warning/disclaimer sign from the fascinating subreddit /r/ScarySigns, with the caption “Found this two years ago, near a college dining hall.”

Tags: shrinkwrap/EULAs, wacky warnings

By entering the premises, you have consented is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 04:05:43 +0000

“Don’t Ground ‘Uber in the Sky'” [Ilya Shapiro and Randal John Meyer on Cato Institute brief in FAA v. FlyteNow]
Trademark spats bog down the world of craft brewing and those over place names are among the worst [Timothy Geigner/TechDirt on Miami Brewing/M.I.A. Beer Co. conflict]
After the Freddie Gray trials, redistricting, StingRay, cyberbullying, eminent domain and more in my new Maryland roundup at Free State Notes;
“Attorney: DOJ’s pursuit of Post Office’s competitors shows hypocrisy of administration” [Jessica Karmasek/Legal NewsLine (fixed link), earlier on FedEx trial here, here, here]
Trial lawyers seize on New Jersey law to file wave of cases challenging online agreements [The Economist]
FDA’s war on vaping pleases big tobacco firms, makes little sense otherwise [Jonathan Adler, Jacob Sullum]

Tags: aviation, beer and brewers, FDA, Maryland, New Jersey, shrinkwrap/EULAs, tobacco, trademarks

August 3 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I have read and agree

Walter Olson — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 13:05:06 +0000

“iTunes just made me promise I had read a 20,552-word, 9-point contract — with 3,276 words in all caps — before I could buy a $1.29 song” [@mbutterick]

Tags: Apple, music and musicians, shrinkwrap/EULAs

I have read and agree is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

For real liability reform, try freedom of contract

Walter Olson — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 10:40:37 +0000

Six months ago the Delaware Supreme Court upheld the right of an enterprise to include a loser-pays provision in its bylaws, specifying that losing shareholder-litigants would have to contribute reasonable legal fees to compensate what would otherwise be loss to other owners. Since then there’s been a concerted campaign to overturn the ruling, either in the Delaware legislature or if necessary elsewhere. But as I argue in a new Cato post, allowing scope for freedom of contract of this sort is one of the best and most promising ways to avert an ever-rising toll of litigation. Contractually specified alternatives to courtroom wrangling have played a vital role, and are under attack for that very reason, in curbing litigation areas like workplace and consumer arbitration, shrinkwrap and click-through disclaimers of liability, and risk disclaimers at ballparks and elsewhere. (& Stephen Bainbridge).

To the extent America has made progress in recent years in rolling back the extreme litigiousness of earlier years, one main reason has been the courts’ increased willingness to respect the libertarian and classical liberal principle of freedom of contract. Most legal disputes arise between parties with prior dealings, and if they have been left free in those dealings to specify who bears the risks when things go wrong, the result will often be to cut off the need for expensive and open-ended litigation afterward.

More on the Delaware bylaw controversy: D & O Diary (scroll), Andrew Trask on state of the merger class action, WSJ Law Blog first and second, Daniel Fisher, and ABA Journal in June, Alison Frankel/Reuters (forum selection bylaws).

Tags: arbitration, contracts of adhesion, corporate governance, Delaware, freedom of contract, loser pays, Oklahoma, securities litigation, shrinkwrap/EULAs, tort reform

For real liability reform, try freedom of contract is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

OMG! Betty Crocker clickwrap destroys your legal rights!

Walter Olson — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 15:58:00 +0000

For those who freaked out at those headlines Thursday, Daniel Fisher at Forbes has a corrective to the New York Times’ latest story advancing the trial lawyer campaign against arbitration. More: Eric Goldman. Sequel: General Mills quickly withdraws new policy, perhaps reasoning that even when the New York Times is wrong, a consumer marketing company really can’t win trying to argue with it. Yet more: Dave Hoffman with an analysis of whether the language actually creates a contract.

Tags: arbitration, Facebook, New York Times, shrinkwrap/EULAs

OMG! Betty Crocker clickwrap destroys your legal rights! is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Do not propagate these grapes

Walter Olson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:11:55 +0000

Shrinkwrap contracts in the produce section (Mike Madison, Sept. 18).

Tags: agriculture and farming, contracts of adhesion, patent litigation, shrinkwrap/EULAs

Do not propagate these grapes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system