A Terms of Service agreement can be used to protect your business against user misuse. It’s also beneficial for reducing your liability for user misconceptions, so it’s always worth taking the time to learn more about them before drafting your own.
Often abbreviated to “ToS” agreements, Terms of Service agreements can be simply defined as legal agreements between providers of a certain service, and the people using those services, i.e their clients.
Terms of service (ToS) are a sort of document that specifies what a service provider is liable for as well as user duties that must be met in order for the service to continue. Users who violate the terms of service are subject to termination.
Mostly used for the primary purpose of protecting a website from abuse by its users, you’ll find ToS Agreements published on a company’s website, and will usually have to read through the page before you can sign up for their service.
While these don’t necessarily have to be present on a company’s website, it’s hard to deny that Terms of Service agreements are one of the best ways to protect a website from the risks it faces, like user abuse, theft of intellectual property, and even something like being spammed.
The fact that they are legally enforceable is also a massive benefit, and many experts agree even the presence of a ToS agreement is often enough to prevent up to 50% of all abuse faced by a website. You have to draft the Terms of Service as per the Business needs and resources available.
Elements of Terms of Service Agreements:-
Regardless of whether you use an OTT platform or a physical platform for delivering content and connecting with your clients, a TOS agreement helps providers establish various ground rules that will ultimately go a long way towards protecting your company. This is because TOS agreements have a number of provisions against user abuse and Generic Terms of Service for Your Business, like:
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Intellectual Property Statements:
One of the most common sections of ToS agreements include the ‘intellectual property statements’ which inform users that the company logo, the content provided, and your website domain are your copyrighted property, and are thus protected by copyright laws.
The ToS agreement outlines your intellectual property rights, and provides provisions in case a user finds copyright content on your website too (for example, reporting it on the user forums).
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Account Information:
This section explains to users how they can disable, re-active, or even delete their accounts, as well as opt out of any emails they receive from your website. It also outlines the account information users are allowed to change after making their account.
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Privacy Policies:
In a time where privacy has become a rising concern for users worldwide, privacy policies are often one of the only parts of a ToS agreement that users actually take the time to read. That’s because this section outlines the ways your service will use the information provided to it by users (for example, it might state that your website will use the email ID linked with a user’s account to send them emails). Even the NDA Format is Similar with the TOS Document in some Cases.
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Community Guidelines for Content and Sharing:
Community guidelines are a basic way for online companies to protect themselves against user abuse, and explains your right to shut down an account or IP-ban it if you detect spam, abusive actions, or quite often, hateful comments.
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Accountability Provisions:
This includes an arbitration system for any grievances users might have. A number of companies also choose to include a mailing address for legal documents and court summons, along with the name of their business lawyer.
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Liability Provisions:
Warranty disclaimers limit your website’s liability in cases where errors or wrong content is found in your website. That means it reduces the chances you or your website will be held personally accountable in case of incomplete, inaccurate, or unsuitable content.
The Benefits of Using Terms of Service Agreements
We’ve said before that Terms of Service agreements don’t necessarily have to be on a website. With that said, though, there are reasons why this form of legal tender has become one of the most commonly seen forms of legal contracts on the Internet. Here’s a breakdown of the five key ways ToS agreements are phenomenal for protecting your company from abuse:
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It Defines User Misuse and Abuse
The Internet allows companies and websites to provide their services to millions of users worldwide, increasing their customer outreach a thousand times over. However, this fact also comes with the risk of user misuse, as malicious users will continuously keep finding ways to misuse your services and your website.
Most ToS agreements require users to agree to refrain from prohibited types of behaviour, and state that violating that clause might be considered grounds for terminating their account. ToS agreements generally prohibit users from activities like:
- Scraping data and content from a website,
- Posting defamatory and hateful comments,
- Harassing other users,
- Posting or downloading content that violates copyright,
- And even impersonating customer service representatives or official website personnel.
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Protect Intellectual Property Against Infringement Claims
Most websites contain intellectual property like trademarks, content, logos, designs, and other things. Requiring users to agree to a Terms of Service agreement allows companies to specify which portions of the website are trademarked or copyrighted content, as well as set up provisions in case users upload content that violates somebody else’s copyright.
That means protection for your trademarked designs, logos, and other intellectual property. You can even decrease your liability by including a DMCA complaint policy for taking down content that violates copyright.
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State Disclaimer Warranties Regarding Functionalities and Outcomes
A prolific benefit of Terms of Service agreements is that they have provisions for stating disclaimers regarding the functionality of the website or the app. In simple words, that means you’re able to warn users that you do not guarantee 100% functionality 100% of the time, and that users are not allowed to sue you for them. This has the benefit of decreasing your liability, and means that you won’t be held accountable (and taken to court) for a user’s assumptions or misconceptions
For example, a Terms of Agreement will often state that the website is not guaranteed to be completely error free or always available without interruptions or downtime.
Should Reading TOS Agreements Be Made Mandatory?
Yes! Most people don’t take the time to read a TOS agreement before agreeing to it, which leads to misconceptions, assumptions, and other confusions down the road.
Websites and apps will often use a tool that makes users scroll to the very end of the Terms of Service agreement before they can click the “Agree” button.
Can You Draft A TOS Agreement Yourself?
While TOS agreements appear simple at first go, they are highly complex documents, and have to be so because they are legally enforceable in court. That means they have to cover every possibility and probability to provide all-around protection.
Drafting a Terms of Service agreement can be done through commonly available templates, but if you’re looking for the best protection, it’s considered best practice to have a technology lawyer present when making your ToS agreement.
Finding the Right Tech Lawyer For Your ToS Agreement:
If you’re looking for technology lawyers to help draft your Terms of Service agreement, check out Vakilsearch, a legal services company with thousands of glowing reviews to its name. Considered to be one of the best in the business when it comes to technology and entertainment-related legal representation, Vakilsearch is your one-stop-shop for finding the best legal services providers you need.
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