NYT: Canadian Court Rules 👍 Counts as a Contract Agreement

[Cooked Crack]

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Be careful before you casually dash off another thumbs-up emoji: A Canadian court has found that the ubiquitous symbol can affirm that a person is officially entering into a contract. 

 

The ruling pointed to what a judge called the “new reality in Canadian society” that courts would have to confront as more people express themselves with hearts, smiley faces and fire emojis — even in serious business dealings or personal disputes. 

 

The case questioned whether a farmer in Saskatchewan had agreed to sell 87 metric tons of flax to a grain buyer in 2021. The buyer had signed the contract and texted a photo of it to the farmer, who had responded by texting back a “thumbs-up” emoji. 

 

The farmer, Chris Achter, contended that the “thumbs-up emoji simply confirmed that I received the flax contract” and that it was not confirmation that he had agreed to the terms of the deal, according to the ruling. He said he had understood the text to mean that the “complete contract would follow by fax or email for me to review and sign.” 

 

The grain buyer, Kent Mickleborough, pointed out that when he had texted the photo of the contract to Mr. Achter’s cellphone, he had written, “Please confirm flax contract.” So when Mr. Achter replied with a thumbs-up emoji, Mr. Mickleborough said he had understood that Mr. Achter “was agreeing to the contract” and that it had been “his way” of signaling that agreement.

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The judge noted that Mr. Achter and Mr. Mickleborough had had a longstanding business relationship and that, in the past, when Mr. Mr. Mickleborough had texted Mr. Achter contracts for durum wheat, Mr. Achter had responded by succinctly texting “looks good,” “ok” or “yup.” 

 

Both parties clearly understood these terse responses were meant to be confirmation of the contract and “not a mere acknowledgment of the receipt of the contract” by Mr. Achter, wrote Justice T.J. Keene of the Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan. And each time, Mr. Achter had delivered the grain as contracted and had been paid.

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Even so, the precise meanings of emojis will remain an open question in the United States and Canada, depending on the facts of each case, said Eric Goldman, a law professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law. 

 

Professor Goldman, who has tallied 45 court opinions in the United States that have referenced the thumbs-up emoji, noted that some young people use the emoji sarcastically or disingenuously. Others use it merely to acknowledge receipt of a message like a verbal “uh-huh.” In some Middle Eastern countries, he said, the gesture is offensive. 

 

“This case won’t definitively resolve what a thumbs-up emoji means,” Professor Goldman said, “but it does remind people that using the thumbs-up emoji can have serious legal consequences.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/07/world/canada/canada-thumbs-up-emoji-contract.html

 

If emojis have legal consequences going to immediately stop using the 🍆 emoji.

[PokerPacker]

Seems that this case is dependent on the specific history of these two parties' agreements rather than a blanket decision that emoji constitute contract agreements.

Edited July 8, 2023 by PokerPacker

[CousinsCowgirl84]

I agree with the court.

[PleaseBlitz]

Not sure about Canadien law, but this makes sense under US law. 
 

“Electronic Signature” – The term “electronic signature” means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

 

https://www.fdic.gov/resources/supervision-and-examinations/consumer-compliance-examination-manual/documents/10/x-3-1.pdf

[Spaceman Spiff]

What about this one?