UCITA - Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act

Notes for class discussion - (study guide)
Reading Assignment/Reference source www.infoworld.com/ucita

Included topics:

General concept of UCITA?

From the reading assignment, what is your impression of UCITA - Good or Bad idea? Why?

The author opposes UCITA. What are his main complaints?

  1. Consumer has no way to see conditions before purchase - cannot comparison shop.
  2. Currently, standard disclaimers release provider from all responsibility and adopting those terms under UCITA would give them the weight of law.

Case Histories - Application of "Shrink-wrap Agreements"

Consumer purchase

"You purchase a software program, at a store or on the Internet, and begin to install it. Almost immediately you are confronted with a dialog box saying you have to agree to a long, dense legal document in order to proceed. Having better things to do with your life, you don't bother reading it and instead just click "OK" to continue the installation. After you're done, you discover the product doesn't work for whatever reason. Too bad, the software publisher tells you, by clicking "OK" you signed away any rights you might have to return the product."

What's right or wrong with this scenario? (Your opinion.)

M.A. Mortenson vs Timberline

Construction company used software tool to develop bid for hospital project. Bug in software caused bid to be $2,000,000.00 under what it should have been. Construction company attempted to sue to recover their $2,000,000.00 loss because the software company knew the bug existed, but failed to disclose it.

What standard terms in "shrink-wrap" license prevented them from filing suit?

Hill vs Gateway

In 1995, Gateway 2000 offered for sale the Gateway Tenth Anniversary System. The system was advertised as having specific, state of the art components, and sold for $4,000.00. Several months after the systems were marketed, user complaints of poor performance  led to trade press investigations that revealed the systems actually were built with lesser components than advertised. The Hills filed a class action suite against Gateway, but a U.S. Court of Appeals threw the suite out.

What clause in Gateway's "Standard Terms & Conditions" packaged inside the shipping box prevented the Hills from suing?

How UCITA Hurts The Software Industry

The author asserts that adoption of the UCITA would ultimately hurt the American software industry, citing the following factors:

How does he feel each of these factors will hurt the American software industry?