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<b><i>Online Extra</i></b>Ninth Circuit Spurns Web 'Browsewrap' Agreement

By Marisa Kendall
August 28, 2014

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has refused to enforce a so-called “browsewrap” arbitration agreement incorporated into the website of Barnes & Noble Inc. against customers who claim the bookseller reneged on their purchases of discounted computer tablets.

Barnes & Noble did not take adequate steps to assure its customers were aware of an arbitration agreement tucked in the website's terms of use, a unanimous three-judge panel'ruled'on Aug. 18. The panel affirmed the 2012 decision of the Central District of California and denied Barnes & Noble's motion to compel arbitration.

“The onus must be on the website owners to put users on notice of the terms to which they wish to bind consumers,” Circuit Judge John Noonan wrote. “Given the breadth of the range of technological savvy of online purchasers, consumers cannot be expected to ferret out hyperlinks to terms and conditions to which they have no reason to suspect they will be bound.”

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