Charles Nerko, team leader for data security litigation in Barclay Damon’s Data Security & Technology Practice Area, wrote “Beyond Ink: Navigating the New Age of Contracts” for the Unpredictable blog. As contracts evolve from their traditional ink-and-paper roots, businesses should consider how this impacts their bottom line.
The article highlights cases where businesses faced significant legal repercussions due to seemingly innocuous actions that courts have found to result in binding contracts. For instance, a thumbs-up emoji was interpreted as a digital signature, binding a business to a significant financial obligation. Another example is dozens of businesses facing multimillion-dollar copyright infringement lawsuits based on their employees sharing newsletter articles among themselves, a practice prohibited by a publisher’s terms of use.
Charles’s article aptly advises, “Tread carefully and give appropriate legal review to potential agreements to fend off unwanted costs and risks. As business is increasingly conducted electronically, the need to understand and navigate this new terrain of contract formation is more important than ever.”
Read the article here.