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read carefully
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READ CAREFULLY
(Originally published as “Shrinkwrap Licenses: An Epidemic of Lawsuits Waiting
to Happen,”
InformationWeek,
February 3, 2007.)
READ CAREFULLY. By reading this article, you agree, on
behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations
and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED
agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap,
browsewrap,
confidentiality,
non-disclosure,
non-compete,
and acceptable use policies (“BOGUS AGREEMENTS”) that I
have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors,
agents, and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my
ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you
have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREE-
MENTS on behalf of your employer.
READ CAREFULLY — all in caps, and what it means is, “IGNORE
THIS.” That’s because the small print in the clickwrap, shrinkwrap,
browsewrap,
and
other
non-negotiated
agreements
is
both
immutable and outrageous.
Why read the “agreement” if you know that:
1) No sane person would agree to its text, and
2) Even if you disagree, no one will negotiate a better agree-
ment with you?
We seem to have sunk to a kind of playground system of form-
ing contracts. There are those who will tell you that you can form
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