Wrap Contracts

When you visit a website, check your email, or download music, you enter into a contract that you probably don't know exists. "Wrap contracts" - shrinkwrap, clickwrap and browsewrap agreements - are non-traditional contracts that look nothing like legal documents. Contrary to what courts have held, they are not "just like" other standard form contracts, and consumers do not perceive them the same way. Wrap contract terms are more aggressive and permit dubious business practices, such as the collection of personal information and the appropriation of user-created content. In digital form, wrap contracts are weightless and cheap to reproduce. Given their low cost and flexible form, businesses engage in "contracting mania" where they use wrap contracts excessively and in a wide variety of contexts. Courts impose a duty to read upon consumers but don't impose a duty upon businesses to make contracts easy to read. The result is that consumers are subjected to onerous legalese for nearly every online interaction. In Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications, Nancy Kim explains why wrap contracts were created, how they have developed, and what this means for society. She explains how businesses and existing law unfairly burden users and create a coercive contracting environment that forces users to "accept" in order to participate in modern life. Kim's central thesis is that how a contract is presented affects and reveals the intent of the parties. She proposes doctrinal solutions - such as the duty to draft reasonably, specific assent, and a reconceptualization of unconscionability - which fairly balance the burden of wrap contracts between businesses and consumers.

When you visit a website, check your email, or download music, you enter into a contract that you probably don't know exists. "Wrap contracts" - shrinkwrap, clickwrap and browsewrap agreements - are non-traditional contracts that look nothing like legal documents. Contrary to what courts have held, they are not "just like" other standard form contracts, and consumers do not perceive them the same way. Wrap contract terms are more aggressive and permit dubious business practices, such as the collection of personal information and the appropriation of user-created content. In digital form, wrap contracts are weightless and cheap to reproduce. Given their low cost and flexible form, businesses engage in "contracting mania" where they use wrap contracts excessively and in a wide variety of contexts. Courts impose a duty to read upon consumers but don't impose a duty upon businesses to make contracts easy to read. The result is that consumers are subjected to onerous legalese for nearly every online interaction. In Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications, Nancy Kim explains why wrap contracts were created, how they have developed, and what this means for society. She explains how businesses and existing law unfairly burden users and create a coercive contracting environment that forces users to "accept" in order to participate in modern life. Kim's central thesis is that how a contract is presented affects and reveals the intent of the parties. She proposes doctrinal solutions - such as the duty to draft reasonably, specific assent, and a reconceptualization of unconscionability - which fairly balance the burden of wrap contracts between businesses and consumers.

Stable value investments can be a crucial aspect of any financial manager's portfolio decisions-yet few books provide in-depth coverage of issues concerning their management, underwriting, and pricing. In The Handbook of Stable Value Investments, Frank Fabozzi gives you the comprehensive, specialized information on these investments that is available nowhere else.

The second edition of this highly recommended work addresses the interaction between conflict of laws, dispute resolution, electronic commerce and consumer contracts. In addition it identifies specific difficulties that conflicts lawyers and consumer lawyers encounter in electronic commerce and proposes original approaches to balance the conflict of interest between consumers' access to justice and business efficiency. The European Union has played a leading role in this area of law and its initiatives are fully explored. It pays particular attention to the most recent development in collective redress and alternative/online dispute resolution. By adopting multiple research methods, including a comparative study of the EU and US approach; historical analysis of protective conflict of laws; doctrinal analysis of legal provisions and economic analysis of law, it provides the most comprehensive examination of frameworks in cross-border consumer contracts.

Contracts relating to scientific/technical development are effective only where they are enforceable or valid under relevant law, can be practically implemented by the parties, and address matters arising from the relevant scientific/technical issues and practices. Negotiators are often hampered by their lack of knowledge of contract law and of the biotechnological techniques used to derive new molecules and genes or genetic or biochemical formulas from biological samples. This lack of knowledge means they may not make the best choices. This book examines the special issues in applying contract law to the rights to take and utilize genetic resources; and the scientific issues and the manner in which they affect the negotiation of ABS agreements.

A contributed handbook on the complexities of portfolio management that includes the most up-to-date findings from leading practitioners in the fixed income securities market.

Shortlisted for DSBA Law Book of the Year Award 2020 The law in Ireland regarding causes of action involving the internet is a rapidly growing area of law and litigation. This book examines issues such as privacy, data protection, defamation, data protection, crime, intellectual property and employment, all through the prism of online behaviour. This book examines key pieces of legislation such as the E-Commerce Directive, GDPR, and Defamation Act 2009; forthcoming legislation such as the Digital Content Directive and proposed Irish legislation to combat harmful online content. With Ireland being the European base of many international IT and tech firms such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon and Twitter, it is anticipated that the Irish courts will be the forum for many important cases in the near future. Internet Law provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the law in Ireland, EU Member States, and other common law countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And in such a fast-developing area of law, the book also anticipates many of the issues that will face courts in the near future. Key cases that this book considers include: Data protection: Google Spain [2014] – an in depth review of what exactly this case established, and the manner in which it has been interpreted in subsequent case law. Lloyd v Google [2019] – in which the English Court of Appeal made a significant finding about the availability of damages for non-pecuniary loss arising from the breach of a person's data protection rights. Defamation: Monroe v Hopkins [2017] - the first UK case to consider at length defamation on Twitter, with an in-depth analysis of meaning, identification and how to assess the degree of publication via that medium. Eva Glawischnig-Piesczech v Facebook [2019] – a significant recent decision of the CJEU on the liability of social media platforms for content posted by its users. Copyright: Sony Music v UPC [2018] - a Court of Appeal judgment on the duties of internet service providers to restrict the illegal downloading of copyright material by its customers. Land Nordrhein-Westfalen v Renckhoff [2018] - a recent decision of the CJEU on the nature of copyright protection attaching to photographs which are uploaded to the internet. Trade Marks: Interflora Inc v Marks and Spencer plc [2011] - a decision of the CJEU which analyses the rights of an advertiser to use the trade mark of a rival company when promoting its services on the Google Ads service. Employment: Barbulescu v Romania [2017] - a significant CJEU decision which sets out the restrictions to an employer's right to monitor the electronic communications of its employees. Privacy/ Harassment: CG v Facebook [2016], in which the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal considered the tort of harassment via social media, and the potential liability of Facebook for comments made by a user following notification of the alleged harassment. Evidence: Martin & Ors v Gabriele Giambrone P/A Giambrone & Law [2013]- one of several cases to consider the admissibility of evidence taken by a defendant from a plaintiff's social media account in order to question the latter's testimony.

Since the introduction of the European Unfair Contract Terms Directive (UCTD) there have been far-reaching developments in the digital landscape which have significantly altered the nature of consumer contracts. This timely book examines the changes that have taken place since the advent of the UCTD and analyses the challenges that they pose for consumers entering online standard form contracts today.