A new law will probably be introduced into state legislatures which will govern all contracts for the development, sale, licensing, and support of computer software. This law, which has been in development for about ten years, will be an amendment to the Uniform Commercial Code. The amendment is called Article 2B (Law of Licensing) and is loosely based on UCC Article 2 (Law of Sales), which governs sales of goods in all 50 states. A joint committee of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and the American Law Institute is drafting the changes to the UCC.
The UCC was drafted in the 1950's and currently governs the sales of goods but not products like software, which are licensed, not sold. Basically, when you purchase software, you are purchasing the information and rights to use the software. Article 2B creates standards for licensing these information products, including rules for interpreting warranties, legal remedies, liability and risk.
This project began to give consideration to instituting a separate article of the UCC for software and related contracts. Article 2B is designed to bring uniformity across states and across the goods vs. services issue. It is intended to make software contract laws more consistent and clear among states. If laws are consistent from state to state it makes it easier for buyers and sellers to understand how to do business with each other. There is a great benefit in creating a uniform system for software products and services, however, this proposal for Article 2B does have major flaws.
Article 2B employs a contracting model that excludes negotiation and that doesn't reveal terms of the contract to the customer until after the sale is complete. It also adopts a licensing model that says when you buy software, you are really only buying the right to use it. Consumers also have little or no opportunity to read warranties and disclaimers before purchasing the product. The draft of Article 2B eliminates some of the legal protections that software buyers currently take benefit from. For example, it reduces vendor liability for software defects and viruses and allows vendors to charge separately for software licenses, maintenance and support.
Critics say that Article 2B is biased in favor of software vendors. While this is the dominant issue for this paper, there are some positive ideas prop...
... middle of paper ...
...t provides almost no protection to customers. It shields the worst companies from responsibility for their worst products. It will weaken the legal rights of consumers and ultimately drag down software quality across the industry. If this addition to the Uniform Commercial Code is passed, you could be giving up a lot more than you intended for with that click.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Eisenberg, Rebecca L. '2B or not 2B';.
2. Hoffman, Thomas. 'Users Could Be Losers Under Code Revision';.
3. Kaner, Cem. 'Bad Software—Who is Liable?';.
4. Kaner, Cem. 'What Is a Serious Bug? Defining material Breach of a Software License Agreement';.
5. Kaner, Cem. 'Uniform Commercial Code Article 2B: A New Law of Software Quality';.
6. Leibowitz, Wendy R. 'In New UCC Software Contracts, Is the Customer Always Wrong?';.
7. McWilliams, Brian. 'The End of Software Licenses?';.
8. Nader, Ralph. 'Shrinkwrap Licenses and Uniform Commercial Code Article 2B';.
9. Ring, Jr., Carlyle C. 'Positive Attributes of Article 2B';.
10. Towle, Holly K. 'Towle Memorandum – UCC Article 2B';.
11. Wylie, Margie. 'Shrink-wrapping the Social Contract';.
A Louisiana attorney is constantly asked by non-Louisiana peers if the state ever adopted the Uniform Commercial Code or if they are still using the old, outdated, Napoleonic Code. Though Louisiana has stark interpretations of the relevance of the UCC, the state has adopted the code in piecemeal. This article is a partial synopsis of introducing readers to a few of the concepts of UCC as adopted by Louisiana compared to the existing principles of the law of sales.
Stallman presents an argument for free software that is supported with an abstracted view of the harm the
That said, we agree that the core of commercial transactions and the Uniform Commercial Code are fundamental bases for international commercial transactions. Over the years, all laws have influenced society to shape their format into better laws more applicable to the reality of each time. The same has happened with the UCC, to better serve the demands of today’s business commerce. The UCC serves today as such a complete version for business transactions that common law will only apply when the Code is not spoken. One example of this situation is that prior to the adoption of the UCC, sales contracts were governed by the common law of contracts.
Australia, commercially would be at an advantage if contract law was codified. The common law system which contracts calls home, can only take on so many avenues and limits itself when stretched to cover new areas. There needs to be a national set of laws governing contracts on the commercial front and in general areas to overcome discrepancies across borders. However there still remains inconsistency with consumers, minors and business trade through contracts made online. The digital economy is not only one of the fastest growing areas but is forever changing and is definitely a prospect that needs to be covered. Effective legal safeguards against undue exploitation and advantage-taking in such online dealings would see Australian contract law remain in the global arena. The Australian public need greater stability and certainty from contract law, and codification is a step towards fulfilling that void by allowing citizens to be well equipped and educated on their rights and decisions.
Reading the terms and conditions whenever a contract is involved is very important. The terms and conditions make you understand what you are agreeing to and also what rights you have if you decide to disagree in any other terms in the contact. In the Hubbert v. Dell Corp case we see the conflict between the buyers of computers and the company who makes them. The rules of law that would apply to this case would be the e-contract law, shrink-wrap rule, and click-on agreements.
In December of 1999, Microsoft, the world’s largest and most dominant software company set a new legal precedence in China in the landmark case of Microsoft Corporation ( China), Ltd. V. Beijing Yadu Science and Technology Group. The law suit caused an uproar among numerous Chinese consumers because for the first time in China, “a major foreign software manufacturer went directly after an end user for copyright infringement in China” instead of just the people who manufactures and sells the counterfeit software. 3 At first glance, it is easy for many Americans in the United States to simply say this case is nothing more than a matter of right and wrong, black and white. The obvious argument would seem to be that if you use something without paying for it, then it constitute stealing. Without a doubt, stealing is universally regarded as wrong in every country and in every culture. However, in a case such as this, we are not dealing straight forward laws.
Goods and services may be accepted solely on the grounds of the purchase conditions – if not agreed otherwise in writing. This causes discrepancy with the conditions of the supplier. MTD shall not accept this, unless MTD BIO explicitly agreed to the alternation in writing. For MTD BIO only orders in writing shall be binding. If a dispute arises, which cannot be settled amicably, legislative provisions of the Civil Code shall remain valid, whereas for the interpretation of business usances the provisions of the Incoterms clauses of the International Chamber of Commerce from Paris in the edition, valid on the day of conclusion of the
In the following paper I will be discussing the use of open source software as part of a larger project. Example uses of this include incorporating existing publicly available source code within another piece of software. Because the term open source has such broad implications, I will attempt to explain it within the context of this paper. Open source code comes with many different licenses such as GPL, BSD, and MIT. I will describe the most popular licensing options and how they differ. Many companies believe open source software projects have an immense lack of accountability; this is simply untrue. Lastly, open source software has recently received an abundance of attention in the media because of possible copyright violations. I will discuss some of the probable scenarios regarding copyright violations with open source and how to protect ones self. Throughout this paper, I hope to shed some light on the use of open source and how beneficial it truly can be to a company.
rule", The electronic formation of contracts and the common law: "mailbox. baylor law review. 8 april
Many people these days are guilty of being ‘software pirates’. They justify their actions by claiming they are stealing from the huge corporate company’s that are just out there to make a buck and don’t care about their customers. This viewpoint, however, overlooks the real fact that it is such actions that what is actually hurting customers and those who are law abiding citizens.
This judgment given set criterion which is still been used in the modern court system and due to this case it was developed that an offer of contract can be unilateral and doesn’t have to be made to a specific party only. Also it was developed to that the acceptance of an offer does not require a notification and that once the concerned party purchases the product the contract is active then and there itself. And it was also established that purchase of an item is a fine example of consideration and therefore makes it a valid contract. (Smith, 2000).
(Wong 2010). The law, in this case, defines a defect as "unreasonably dangerous to the user. " The extension of the product manufacturer liability in the recent years is perhaps the most outstanding changes were seen in the Anglo - American legal systems (McWilliams & Smith
As businesses become increasingly globalized, it is only natural that international commercial transactions and contractual obligations follow. While parties entering into such transactions may not always be aware of applicable foreign laws, they still desire freedom, predictability, and convenience in contracting. The need for a uniform set of laws is especially significant in the area of international contracts because ascertaining the applicable law is more difficult in this area than in almost any other area of law.
One of the most recent examples of ethics and technology conflicts in the United States are privacy issues and how we cite, distribute and publish intellectual property on the internet. For instance, many corporations and people take advantage of the open access of the internet and the lack of legislation governing the right to post and upload information to the internet. Today, nearly every household in the United States has a computer with int...
Users losing billions due to bugs. By: Thibodeau, Patrick; Rosencrance, Linda. Computerworld, Jul2002, Vol. 36 Issue 27, p1, 2p; (AN 6955885)