Terms & Conditions

[muppetdave]

I'm looking to start a business, which will require terms and conditions for 'purchasers' and for 'users' (two distinct entities).

There is a company within the marketplace who whilst is similar in some respects, isn't exactly the same as my offering. However, they have some fairly 'handy' T&Cs for the 'purchasers' who may use them or my own company. Although my product will differ from the competitor, there are many similarities. Is it legal to pinch the other company's T&Cs to use myself, albeit adjusted for my own purposes. My concern is that in some parts I will not need to change the document other than company names - is doing this an infringement of any kind?

 

[Williams lester]

No it is not legal to pinch them!! Did you really think it was?

Get some written for you, there are some excellent people on this forum who can do it for you.

 

[muppetdave]

Not pinching in entirety, but using them as a basis to work from? At the end of the day they're all working to the same goals etc for their relevant company.

 

[moduslegal]

The reality of the situation is that what you would be doing by pinching them would be breach of copyright. Plenty of people pinch each other's terms and conditions, which is why they are so often not properly geared to what they are supposed to do. However, the problem you may face in this case is that if your competitor is going to pay close attention to what you are doing, it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility that they will obtain a copy of your terms and conditions and if they are exactly the same as theirs, seek to take action against you for breach of copyright.

I write contracts for a living - terms and conditions are essentially the boring parts of a contract. They are much misunderstood by laymen. People only usually look at them when there is a problem and then discover they don't cover what they thought they covered.

If you want to take the risk of ripping off their terms and conditions, changing the names and a few clauses, then good luck. If you want a proper set of terms and conditions (ie paid for by you and professionally produced by me) then click through my username to my homepage for my contact details - I offer a free 15 minute chat if you would like to talk it through.

 

[ASeelhoff]

I would recommend taking extra care over them and getting them done professionally as well. Its too easy to have a badly worded clause ignored because its not reasonable, or because it does not make sense when a well worded one could give you real protection.