Hi,

Not sure if anyone here has much legal experience but I'll give it a shot anyway...

Right, I run a music download website. Baiscally the bands sign up and we sell their music, we get a percentage and they get a percentage.

At the moment for a band to sign up they have to register by sending us an application form and a signed copy of the contract.

We are not having many people sign up, mainly due to the fact that they need to fill in the forms, prepare their cds and so on, which I must admit is a pain.

So, we are looking into producing an online registration system where they can sign up, give us all their details and upload the tracks to make life easier.

However, I'm not sure about the legality of the contract issue... At the moment we have a contract for each artist signed by both ourselves and the band or a representative. How will this work with an online registration. Obviously we can show the full contract that they are agreeing to but how legally binding will it be with no signature for them?

Hope someone can give us an idea on this one as we're not legal experts!

TIA
Simon

Forcing them to check a box or typing the words 'I agree' into a textbox signifying they've read and agree to the contract should hold up in court just as well as a signature. This is how most sites handle it. Be sure to capture and store their IP address during registration so it can be tied back to them.

You really should speak to a lawyer who is knowledgable in this sort of thing becuase I , as well as probably anybody on this forum, is by no means an expert.

Oh yes, it will be passed by my solicitor. Just want to get the general idea of how the software would need to operate so we can get the ball rolling.

Thanks for the advice
Simon

For anyone who is interested I did a quick search on google (wasn't too sure what to search for). I found this site in the top 3 results and it's very informative;

http://www.weblaw.co.uk/art_contract_online.php

Please note that it's a UK site and I'm not too sure about other countries but I would assume this sort of thing is practically the same globally.

Unfortunatly when I studied business at college the internet was not that widespread so it was not covered within the law modules!

That's a good link describing the law of contracts. Thanks for posting it.

No problems, I was impressed to find it in the top 3 google results, usually I'd have to sift through tonnes of junk, hence posting here before looking for it!

Anyway, I also emailed the author to thank him for a great article.

Simon

Hi mate.

I read above that a 'tick box' should suffice in court, but I disagree. There is nothing stopping the owner to edit the database or file which holds this record, if required, and I think any creditable lawyer will challenge that.

I would suggest using that method but having a contract sent to them to sign.

Steve.

I agree with that one, which is why I started the thread. I just want to know how the big companies get round it, as no businesses in a similar industry that I have used in the past needed anything other than a checkbox!

I think I'll go with allowing them to use the forms instead of paperwork and then sending them a contract to sign.

It'll go past my solicitor in the new year anyway.

Simon

PS. I've sent you a PM as I may have some more work for you if you are interested.

Originally Posted by Gaffer Sports

Hi mate.

I read above that a 'tick box' should suffice in court, but I disagree. There is nothing stopping the owner to edit the database or file which holds this record, if required, and I think any creditable lawyer will challenge that.

I would suggest using that method but having a contract sent to them to sign.

Steve.

Cheers Simon, I have replied to your PM.

I think I have an idea to overcome the need for a signed contract, but I shall discuss it with you after xmas.

Have a good one,

Steve.

Definietly talk with an experienced legal advisor/attorney.

I have spoken to an advisor regarding this. As we record the IP on time of submission and print a copy of every application this seems to suffice.

However, we are still sending out contracts to be signed, but, not many people are signing and returning these, even with a postage paid envelope included. It seems that people are scared by paper these days!

The trouble is, at the moment, we cannot afford to put accounts on hold until we receive the signed contract, as we would have little or no accounts created and we'd kill the site.

Simon