Ensuring Electronic Signature Lawfulness for End User License Agreement in United States

How to eSign a document: electronic signature lawfulness for End User License Agreement in United States

unless the last game you picked up was a copy of phoenix wright ace attorney lawyer jargon or legalese is probably the last thing on your mind when you're excitedly ripping open the box of a new piece of software but curb your enthusiasm friends because nearly every piece of software these days is going to come with the infamous end user license agreement or ula we've all clicked agree to these things without reading all 50 pages or even sometimes a single sentence so why the heck are they included when we all know that hardly anyone reads them what is the point well fundamentally a eula is just a type of contract which have been around since time immemorial but unlike most agreements that involve some kind of two-way negotiation eulas are pretty much just a list of stuff you're not allowed to do and while the first ulas which started popping up in the 1980s were intended to mostly stop unauthorized copying since then they've grown to be completely unwieldy like a 34 layer nacho dip or something to get to the salsa you're going to end up with cheese on your fingers every time well hold on a second linus i don't agree to their turns i just want to use the software i paid for it's mine well not exactly when you buy a copy of a piece of software you are not actually paying for the software you're only paying for a license to use it since the publisher wants to retain the rights to actually do stuff to the code so what can't you do then most eulas will forbid you from tinkering with or reverse engineering the software since the publishers don't want people adding enhancements and features for free that they could make money off of later software developers also obviously don't want to get sued so you'll see a disclaimer of warranty which means that you agree that if the software messes something up with your computer or worse you're limited to whatever the publisher will give you which is usually phone and web support or best case scenario refund and some eulers even say stuff like that you can't criticize the software publicly if you don't like it that's bs linus why do they get to make all the rules anyway do i get any say in any of this sort of at least in the u.s there are numerous precedents for eula clauses ending up being unenforceable if they're really unfair to the consumer and generally speaking there also needs to be some sort of ascent from the customer for the eula to actually count for example one american court case involving netscape held that sticking terms of service in an inconspicuous location at the bottom of a page didn't give a user enough chance to agree but being forced to look at a ula before clicking next or removing the plastic wrap from a software box if you're still into that kind of thing with the conditions on the outside have both been found to constitute acceptance by the user but regardless the publisher can't terminate your license if the eula is grossly unfair or unconscionable in legalese the problem though is that's a very subjective standard and puts the user in the crummy position where they'll either have to go to court to get a ruling before using the software as they intend or just go ahead and do it and hope for a favorable decision after the fact not something that i typically advise so where does this leave us all then well for most people in a state of really not worrying about it too much as long as you're not trying to use someone else's software for unauthorized commercial gain or repurposing itunes as a terrorist weapon or something all they can usually do is terminate your account or subscription but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea to search that mountain of text for any fishy clauses and don't be afraid to exercise your rights as a consumer if things look unreasonable before you find out that you've signed away the rights to your vital organs speaking of vital organs freshbooks it's designed for freelance workers or small businesses where the owner has vital organs so the human ones that is to say and what it is is an online tool that makes invoicing getting paid and tracking expenses and your timesheet easier so little details about cash flow are in one place so you always know where you stand to end it shows a full history of each invoice allowing you to check if your client has viewed the invoice and allow the client to pay through freshbooks by credit card which of course makes those little details like uh you know hey have you paid yet hey no sorry i didn't get it in the mail oh um actually yeah you did i saw that you looked at it so uh yeah you better go ahead and pay that because let's face it guys whether you're whether you're a plumber or uh you know some kind of other you know freelance contractor tradesman whatever the case may be you want to spend your time doing that and making money not sitting around you know typing things into one of those calculators with the spool of paper in the top that's the old way so head over to freshbooks.com techquicky and don't forget to enter techquikie in the how did you hear about us section we got that linked in the video description try it out today it's free as a trial then it costs money but it's good so it's okay so that's pretty much it guys thanks for watching like the video if you liked it dislike it if you thought it sucked leave a comment if you have suggestions for future as possible just like this one and as always don't forget to subscribe or follow or whatever also if you're looking for something else to watch right now we've got a great video that just went up on channel super fun that involves uh me eating a copious amount of jello it's super disgusting and i almost hurt myself so check it out now or later