Business Law - 6 Case Research Proposal

com" from an Internet host in Maryland to a host in New York.

The New York host turned out to be merely an intermediary of a Canada-based company (Tucows). Tucows eventually turned over the domain name to the Alabama authorities upon their request. Thereafter, Novak appealed the decision in the Alabama case successfully and then filed an action against Tucows for illegally depriving him of his property by conversion. Tucows' defense to the action relied on a clause in their contract with Novak that specified a Canadian forum to resolve any disputes but Novak argued that an automatic process of "clicking through" a contract could not hold him to a forum selection clause that was not negotiated specifically.

Legal Issue:

Is a party to a contract held to a forum selection clause when that clause was not subject to a negotiation?

Decision:

The process of "clicking through" is commonly accepted in Internet transactions and a party who accepts a contract containing a forum selection clause in that manner is bound by that clause. The transfer of the property by Tucows pursuant to legal order was proper at the time.

Rationale:

Public policy is not served by allowing parties to contracts entered into in a standard process to escape the effects of those contracts. Nor is public policy served by allowing parties subject to default judgments to hold innocent parties…