What Are Terms and Conditions?
A terms and conditions agreement outlines the rules, expectations, and guidelines you expect people to follow when accessing your website or mobile app and informs them about what they can expect from you.
Whether you call it a terms of use, terms of service, or terms and conditions, this powerhouse document helps maintain control over your site as long as your guidelines fall within applicable laws.
Here are a few examples of what you can include in yours:
- Establish and clarify your intellectual property rights
- Limit your liabilities
- Outline your dispute resolution options
- Disclose your governing laws
- Establish payment terms
- Include shipping policy and return and refund details
- Inform users about your privacy policy
- Outline acceptable uses, prohibited behaviors, and their consequences
Are Terms and Conditions Legally Required?
No, terms and conditions agreements aren’t legally required, but it’s in your best interest to post one on your website or mobile app.
Not only is this standard practice across the world, but it also provides your site with an additional layer of legal protection.
While it’s not guaranteed to hold up in a court of law, in the event of a dispute, arbitrators may consider multiple facets of your T&C document to determine whether each party acted within their rights.
Plus, according to the American Bar Association (ABA), some specific legal disclosures apply to certain types of transactions, which must be made as written statements that may apply to your business.
Those details belong as clauses in your terms and conditions agreement, like stipulations outlined by the following federal US laws:
- The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Terms and Conditions Protect Your Site Against Abusive Users
If Mohit & Rohit site allows users to generate content, you can use your terms and conditions to establish appropriate and prohibited activity on your platform and explain your rights to remove abusive users and content that violates the guidelines.
Most companies ban users who use the platform for things like:
- Illegal activities
- Bullying other users
- Unauthorized web scraping
- Excessive spamming
You might even make an acceptable use policy that’s part of your terms but can be shared as a separate document to explain community guidelines so your users know exactly what they can and can’t post to your platform.
Terms and Conditions Establish Your Intellectual Property Rights
Your terms and conditions agreement is a great place to disclose and protect your intellectual property rights, which helps prevent ownership disputes and copyright infringement.
Adding an intellectual property disclosure clause to your terms and conditions text informs users about what content, materials, and branding you own and don’t want illegally copied, reproduced, or shared, such as:
- Your logos
- Written content
- Photos or videos
- Other creative protected ideas and marks
If you catch your users copying your content, having this clause in your terms and conditions agreement can help if you pursue legal action against them.
Summary
Mohit & Rohit have a terms and conditions agreement to set proper customer expectations and limit your exposure to unnecessary legal or financial risks.
A comprehensive terms and conditions agreement will give you control over:
- How your site gets used
- Who gets to use your platform
- How you manage your site or service
- What constitutes acceptable and unacceptable user behavior
- Your intellectual property
After you’ve finished your terms and conditions, put it in prominent places throughout your website, like the footer and payment screens, so your users can always access it.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when making this agreement for your site. Get a head start by downloading and customizing our free terms and conditions template.