[11873] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Adhesions vs. Contracts
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Craig A. Finseth)
Fri Apr 22 13:31:19 1994
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 08:23:58 -0500
From: "Craig A. Finseth" <fin@unet.umn.edu>
To: Mark-Ludwig@uai.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: "Mark R. Ludwig"'s message of Thu, 21 Apr 1994 10:31:45 -0700 <9404211731.AA14235@sgi.uai.com>
...
What we executed with PSI for our Internet connectivity is an
adhesion, and I imagine the same is true when one acquires a
timesharing account from Barry, Karl, and their ilk.$$
...
Yes and no. The big problem with adhesions (aside, of course, that
one doesn't really negotiate them) is that one party is in the
business and the other not. There is no way that fair negotiations
can really be conducted.
Contracts between businesses, on the other hand, are much more
presumed to be negotiatable. Even if they're on form letters (there's
a whole body of contract law called "battle of the forms").
My point here is that it is by no means a forgone conclusion that such
arrangements are adhesions. Especially when, in this case, one party
was a law firm.
Craig
