Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: faxed signitures

The answer is yes, almost always.

Contracts are formed by a process of offer and acceptance. The party making the offer has the right to specify the means of acceptance. If an offer were made that contained an express provision that it could only be accepted by a "blue ink" original signature, or that a notary's axknowledgment were required, those conditions would have to be met in order for a contract to be formed.

In most commercial contexts, a FAXed signature is deemed to show acceptance. After all, there is an original somewhere! Presumably the original is in the files of the signer and could be produced as evidence if necessary.

The list of documents and instruments that require original signatures is ever-shrinking. Facsimile signatures are accepted by court clerks on legal documents filed and served by the parties in the course of a lawsuit. Last I checked, original signatures (what I call "blue ink" because many lawyers use blue ink so the originals are distinguishable from xerocopies) were still required on deeda, wills and incorporation papers.

I would say that a contract document bearing a facsimile signature would be regarded as adequate proof of a binding agreement in 99.99% of everyday commercial situations.