Corporate websites frequently do – and should – include “terms of use” that govern use of the website by web surfers. Why should your website contain terms of use? What terms should should you include? Are users actually bound by the terms?
In the first of a series of articles on “Internet Rules of the Road,” my colleague Anne Newman of Pepper Hamilton LLP has published a set of helpful guidelines for Web Site Terms of Use. As Anne writes:
Content is produced by people and people make mistakes. While a business should carefully vet the content it posts on its Web site, it should also make clear to site visitors that the content is provided without warranty as to its accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose for which the user may plan to use it.
and
Operators of social networking Web sites, sites that need to verify the age of their members and other sites with a high level of potential liability, should require active consent to the Terms of Use, through (i) “click through” agreements, or (ii) by requiring users to complete and submit an online form containing an electronic signature, or by requiring users to print, sign and return the Terms of Use.
For Anne’s full article, click here.
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