Pro and Contracts

Coursera Banned in Minnesota; Updates Terms and Conditions to Reflect Absurdity

by Graham Martin on October 19, 2012 · 0 comments

Tweet The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported that free online education service Coursera has been banned in Minnesota due to a law requiring registration and permission to teach in the state. It is unclear how such a law would be enforced in the age of the Internet, as well as what penalties would be [...]

Fine Print Friday: Pinterest Terms of Service

June 1, 2012

Tweet I recently discovered that the new social media sensation, Pinterest, has an interesting provision in it relating to ownership of content that is posted. Namely, by pinning “Member Content” on Pinterest, you are giving Pinterest a perpetual and irrevocable license to use that content however it wants. This isn’t all that different from sites [...]

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Freddie Mac Short Sale Agreement Analysis

May 11, 2012

Tweet Short sales seem to have been all the rage during the last few years—not because people want to do it that way, but it seems to generally be a better alternative than going through foreclosure. For those of you considering a short sale (or the three of you out there who just find this [...]

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Fine Print Friday: Law Firm Retainer Agreement

May 4, 2012

Tweet Since I have picked on many other commercial segments, I thought it was time to turn the microscope around and examine my own profession a little. After all, if you are concerned about a contract, you may want to hire an attorney, and then you’ll need to understand his or her contract, which is [...]

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The UCC and Why It Matters

May 1, 2012

Tweet The UCC—or Uniform Commercial Code—is an enormous statement of the law dealing generally with sales and commercial transactions in the United States. It’s large and unruly, and it’s used all the time, so it’s probably good to know something about it—especially if you are in the business of selling or buying things. Quite often [...]

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Can You Sue Your College for Breach of Contract?

April 27, 2012

Recent lawsuits in Canada and the United States have brought up an interesting issue: Can you sue your college for breach of contract, and under what conditions? Most people don’t really sign a contract to attend an institution of higher learning, although there are contractual principles at play in many cases, and the failure by one side to act on those principles could provide the basis for a breach of contract lawsuit.

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Facebook’s New Rule: No Sharing Passwords

April 6, 2012

With the recent hoopla over employers asking for Facebook passwords, Facebook has decided to fight back. In addition to issuing this statement specifically addressing requests for your Facebook password, Facebook has also changed the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which is part of its Terms and Conditions. This new statement is unfortunately buried in the terms and conditions, but is pretty clear.

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When A Contract Isn’t A Contract

February 15, 2012

Tweet Here’s the scenario: A woman was a member of the Church of Scientology, and wanted to get out, which is apparently no small feat. After enduring various forms of torture and solitary confinement, she was finally allowed to leave…so long as she signed a non-disclosure agreement, agreeing never to speak ill of the church. [...]

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