Legal Question in Business Law in California
Contract Law
I am about to send a book to an illustrator I found through an online freelance artist site. We have an agreement/contract stating terms, rights etc. The website is set up to manage the process of bids, acceptance and payment. There is not an ''electronic signature'' option so there is not ''officially signed'' contract. The site offers a free payment service in the form of an escrow account where I only release payment upon my approval of work done by the freelancer. I find it odd that the agreement/contract is never signed by either party. Is this still a legally binding agreement? The freelancer tells me that ''clicking on accept'' is the way to start work and that there is no signature needed either in hard copy or by electronic means just want to make sure I am in a legal contract here.
Thanks
Linda Bryan
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Contract Law
More to the point, who are these people? Where are they? Can you take them to court if things go sour, or are they in some foreign country?
Re: Contract Law
The law of online contracting is in its infancy, so there is more risk involved in contracting online. There is little case law on this subject, but legal commentators have recommendations. The agreement should be set up so as to create a contract. A contract requires an offer, an acceptance, and
consideration. We will assume consideration is present.
The offer will be set forth in the
online agreement and a "valid" acceptance of that offer taken by some action on the part of the site user.
A site should prominently display a link to the agreement. The user should affirmatively click on this link where the agreement is prominently displayed. The user should then click on an �I Accept� button proximately connected to the agreement before such user is allowed to proceed through the site or enter into a related transaction or both.
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