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Doesn't need to be DocuSign, but seems really helpful for it to be run by a third party: Imagine showing up to court and trying to argue that a record in your
by seoaeu 5y ago
Doesn't need to be DocuSign, but seems really helpful for it to be run by a third party:
Imagine showing up to court and trying to argue that a record in your company's database was proof that the defendant signed a legally binding contract with you. What if they deny having ever signed it? Is a judge or jury really going to take you at your word?
- stefan_ 5y agoThey just might? Did you recently sign anything shopping in the supermarket? Probably not, yet a valid contract was formed nonetheless. This is really one of those falsehoods programmers believe about the law. No, courts do not in fact care if your method of signalling agreement is not some unalienable public key cryptography scheme. Unless the law explicitly states otherwise for the kind of contract you are entering into (e.g. requiring a notary seal), contracts are regularly formed a thousand different ways. Advertise a cash-back policy? Great, that's a contract you enter into with every buyer.
- seoaeu 5y agoThe problem isn't whether a valid contract was formed. It is how many billable hours it will take the lawyers to agree on the exact text of that contract. Perhaps the defendant claims that version 5 of the contract was displayed to them, even though the database record says they signed version 6. If the court case is over a provision that was added in version 6, that could matter a lot! With DocuSign, you have a neutral third party who can step in with a definitive answer. That has real monetary value compared to the company having to argue back and forth in open court