The Impact of XML on Contract Law and Contract Litigation
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Track: OT, Deploying XML, End-User Applications
Audience Level: High Level/Technical view
Time: Thursday, November 17 11:00
Keywords: EDI, XML, Web Services, ECommerce, Business-to-business, Business-to-consumer, Contract, Dispute Resolution, Litigation, Internet, Clickwrap, Browsewrap, Relational Contract
Abstract:
It is unclear how adoption of Web services contracting systems based on XML standards will affect the frequency of litigated contract disputes among businesses. During the more than 20 years that business-to-business EDI contracting systems have been in use, there have been no reported cases of litigated contract disputes involving EDI contracts. By contrast, there have been many litigated disputes involving business-to-consumer contracts formed through the use of clickwrap and browsewrap Internet interfaces that have been in use for only a decade. B2B EDI contracts are usually formed between businesses that are already in a long-term trading partner relationship, and the high initial investment required to use EDI may provide additional incentives to resolve disputes informally. Businesses without long-term relationships should be able to use B2B XML contract technologies, and the absence of a relationship of trust may make it more difficult to resolve disputes informally when they arise. B2B XML contracts should still have a lower rate of litigation than B2C Internet contracts, however, because most businesses prefer arbitration to litigation.
