While most think that having a terms and conditions agreement is a mandatory practice, it is not so. It is not required by law to have this agreement on your website. However, you need to have privacy policies in your website as it is mandated by law. If you collect personal data such as first and last names, email address, shipping address etc, then privacy policy is required to be displayed on the website. Pixselo develops a website that complies with the standards in Terms & conditions and privacy policy. You only need to furnish your details, you can find the best way to display this essential information.
Terms and conditions agreement is also known as Terms of use agreement or Terms of service. All of them mean the same. A term of service agreement is a set of regulations that should be agreed upon by the users before utilizing the service. Most websites name them as Disclaimer, terms and conditions or Terms of service with regards to the website usage. This agreement includes the set of rules that the user must agree to in order to avail the services provided by your website. It is important to have terms & conditions and privacy policy on your website.
Here are the 5 reasons for having the same.
1. Prevent abuses
Terms and conditions are a legally binding contract between you and your users. The agreement sets the rules and guidelines that the users must agree to for availing the website’s services. The users need to follow these rules while using your website or mobile app. In the case of privacy policy, you need to inform what kind of information you collect and how you use the data. In this agreement, you can instruct the users about the proper way of using the service and what will happen if users are found to be abusing the website or mobile application. Pixselo develops a website that has proper terms of service so that abuse is prevented.
Abusive users can include those who spam other users, post defamatory content on the website, etc. if you are having a social media type website, then you need to specify clearly that investigative and intolerant behavior will not be accepted. This clause needs to be included in the terms and conditions. You can specify that spamming will not be tolerated via public or private messages. You can explain the disciplinary action that will be taken for abusing your website. Furnish your details, a web developer can enable this agreement in the web page.
2. Own your content
Terms & conditions help you to protect your website logo and content that is created by you. If your website is hosted user-generated content then you can specify that content generated by users will belong to them. In the agreement, you can inform your users that the content you own are protected by international copyright laws and that you are the sole owner of the content. The use of website logo and company branding without permission is not acceptable. This clause is called as Intellectual property clause. It contains the following content:
The website, its features, original content and functionality are solely owned by [website owner]. These are protected in accordance with an international patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark and other proprietary rights or intellectual property laws.
3. Terminate accounts
The termination clause states that you have the right to terminate the account not just temporarily ban users in case they are not following the rules and guidelines specified in the terms and conditions. This clause is important as it informs the users that abusive accounts will be banned and terminated if they are found to be breaching the regulation. For websites that have a registration, the section should have a termination clause. In this case, the users need to register with the website before accessing the portions of the website. You can ban or disable the abusive users based on their deviant activity.
Termination clause usually looks like: We may terminate your account and deny access to the site without notice or cause. This may result in the forfeiture and destruction of all the information linked to your account. The provisions which are present in the agreement by their nature should survive termination. The warranty disclaimers, ownership provisions, limitations of liability and indemnity include without limitation.
4. Limit liability
Terms and conditions are the places where the warranty disclaimers are included. This tries to limit the liability of the website owner if there are issues related to the content of the website. It notifies that the owner of the website cannot be held accountable for the errors in the content. It also specifies that the owner is not accountable for the inaccuracy, incompleteness or suitability of the information. Showcase your work with the help of web development services on privacy policy.
5. Prescribe the law particular to the region
The terms and conditions also have a provision for governing law that refers to the jurisdiction this regulation will be applicable. For example, if your website operates in the United States as a registered business, then your terms and conditions, the privacy policy would be present in the following way.
These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the laws of the State of New York and the United States of America.
If your company is in London from the United Kingdom, then the clause will look something like this.
These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.
If you operate your website from another country (Australia, UK, Canada, South Africa), update the agreement to include the home country or the country in which your company (that owns and operates the website) is registered in.
Conclusion
Keeping terms and conditions and privacy policy is a good idea as it protects you from legal problems. It also explains to your users what service they can avail. At Pixselo, we provide web development services, app development services and digital marketing services to many reputed companies. We are based out of Bangalore and operate all over the globe.