"Arnoud Engelfriet" <arnoud@engelfriet.net> wrote in message [🔎] 20061010061335.GA8082@stack.nl">news:[🔎] 20061010061335.GA8082@stack.nl...
Michael Poole wrote:Arnoud Engelfriet writes: > However I didn't see a signature in the text file. > Only the guy's name. At least in the US, the relevant law (why I mentioned "affirmative acts") is what make click-through agreements binding -- the act of clicking is the user's electronic "signature". My thought is that his writing out of that paragraph would also suffice to show affirmative assent.I'm not sure. The statute calls for "signed by the owner", but not to show assent to an agreement. It's a one-sided statement that has to serve as evidence that the copyright has transferred. I can see how typing in my name could be construed as evidence of my acceptance of your offer. But if a statute explicitly calls for "signed", wouldn't something like a proper PGP signature be called for?
I believe the only real requirement is that the "mark" was made with the intention of acting like a signature.The patent office makes use of this law for e-filing, with the signature being
any text between two slashed placed in a special text box (IIRC).The problem is that sometimes it is unclear if a mark was intended to be a signature. This problem even exists in the analog world. A name written on a document by
the owner of that name may be an autograph and not a signature.If the wiritng was located on a signature line, then it is presumably a signature,
but in other cases it can be hard to tell.Even when something is clearly a signature (like a PGP signature) it can still be unclear as to the meaning of the signature. Does the signature mean "I agree" (as in acceptance of a contract), does it mean "I have seen this", does it mean "I wrote this", does it mean "I endorse this"? Does it mean more than one of those?
I think you can see the problem.