Web-Site Legal Disclaimers
By Catherine Sansum Kirkman
Almost all commercial Web sites contain some type of legal terminology to notify the end user of the terms and conditions that apply to the use of the site, including legal disclaimers and copyright notices. Most sites today include hypertext links to their legal disclaimers, and this model of posting the terms of use is known as a "Web-wrap" license, based on the "shrink-wrap" license concept used for software distribution.
Shrink-wrap licenses have been held as legally enforceable, even though the end user does not sign a written contract, so it has become common practice to use these licenses on Web sites as well. The most recent case on this subject, ProCD v. Zeidenberg, involved a CD-ROM shrink-wrap license that prohibited an end user from repurposing the telephone-number data that was included on the CD-ROM. The end user ignored the shrink-wrap terms, and posted the data on the Web. The licensor sued, and the license terms were upheld, even though the telephone number data was in the public domain, and could have been freely used by the end user if he had not acquired his copy of the data from that particular CD-ROM. This reflects that a Web site may be able to protect its copyrights and other intellectual property using a Web-wrap license, and possibly also to impose additional terms relating to use and repurposing of data derived from the site.
Following is an example of some initial Web-wrap terms:
Notice to all users: Carefully read the following legal agreement before using this Web site.
