Author: Christopher Hamel-Smith
As we begin to use the Internet to conduct e-commerce in the global market, we must be proactive in managing the risk of being sued in Courts across the Globe. Our businesses will pay a high price if we wait to react after being dragged into a foreign Court. Last week, we saw that we can use contract terms as powerful tools to reduce our risk of becoming entangled in a web of worldwide litigation. However, this risk cannot be effectively managed by the use of contract terms in isolation. We therefore need to understand our other options.
One reason that contract terms alone cannot protect us is that each country has its own laws about the circumstances in which various contractual provisions - including those that express a choice of the Courts of another jurisdiction - may be invalid. For example, it may not be possible to enforce such a contract term against consumers where the laws of their country strike down such terms in order to protect
