Licence agreement with purchase

[wardbekker]

I'm currently building a website where i need to let the customer sign a licence agreement electronically upon purchase. I was thinking of a blurp of text with agree and disagree buttons. Does this have any legal grounds, or is this just eye-candy? Are there better alternatives?

[Mr Bo Jangles]

I get them to 'digitally sign' their name in a form field acknowledging their agreement with our Terms.
I got this idea from another e-commerce site.

The text above the field reads like this:
Your Electronic 'Signature' indicating acceptance.
This is to be written in the form of your e-mail address
followed by your name, with your name 'bracketed' by forward slashes
e.g. [e-mail]/John Doe/

Now, a lawyer may well tell you that if you get into a serious dispute that the e-mail you receive back from this form is worthless - I don't know, but I would have thought it's better than worthless, and it's all I think I want to do. In the 10 years I've been doing business on-line I've never needed to even nearly resort to any threats etc.

[wardbekker]

The agreement is for licencing images. The licence agreement must held in court, because the possible damages can be significant, for example: Big shot company uses images X for folder. Graphic deparment likes image and uses in all other folders of the company without getting another licence for that. Most of the time this is not on purpose, but it does occure.

[Leosghost]

For what you want you are much better off requiring them to fax you an acceptance which is printed out from your form ....what you are thinking of would only make some lawyer rich ......

[Sunshyn]

Leosghost's suggestion is probably safest. However, a digital signature of a bracketed name must have some legal standing since the US government accepts that as one's legal signature when registering a trademark online.