Registration For An Application Is Tantamount To A Binding Contract

The New York Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that when a new user confirms the "terms of service" and "privacy policy" on an application's registration screen, even without perusing the legal documents provided through these links, such approval suffices to raise the user's legal engagement with the company to the standing of a binding contract. This ruling overturned an earlier ruling that a binding contract has not arisen between the parties.

This issue was tested when the Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the plea of a user of the Uber application. That user, Spencer Meyer, objected to the provisions and the arbitration stipulation that is "one click away" in the application's terms of service, although he had marked his agreement when he first opted to register for the Uber application.