Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Automatic web site renewal

What do you mean by "legal disclaimer?" A contract clause calling for an automatic renewal isn't a disclaimer. It is a plain vanilla contract term, and should be read and interpreted according to its plain meaning. If it says that your service will be renewed automatically, a judge will give the term "automatically" its dictionary meaning, which I think means that the service continues as before without human intervention on the part of either the service provider or the customer.

So, I would say they don't have to notify you, and you don't have to notify them.

Whether you had the right to cancel and not be renewed is also a matter of reading and interpreting the contract; most likely, you would have a right to terminate upon giving some prior notice or it would be a contract for four months (for example) instead of a three-minth contract with an automatic renewal. However, the only way to know your rights and duties under this contract is to read it and apply a common-sense meaning to its terms. Again, that's what the judge would do.