Is a printed signature legally binding?

Started by
18 comments, last by hello2k1 21 years, 3 months ago
Here''s the thing, the contractee and I are a fairly large distance apart, and are unable to be physiaclly present to sign the contract. So instead we''re scanning our signatures, pasting them onto the contract, and printing them out. Would this contract hold up in courts?
------------------------------There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't.
Advertisement
i think you normally would either fedex -> sign -> fedex back or fax -> sign -> fax back

-me
I know I could do that... but is scanning the signatures also viable?
------------------------------There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't.
I guess it is not.

EDIT: Not in my country.

[edited by - xaxa on January 28, 2003 8:52:51 PM]
[size="2"]I like the Walrus best.
Many contracts are signed and then faxed. And as a fax is in fact a scanner->modem->printer, I think it should be just fine to use a dedicated scanner as you do. I often send faxes (including contracts) through my office computer by scanning them and sending them to the receiving fax.

quote:Original post by CWizard
Many contracts are signed and then faxed. And as a fax is in fact a scanner->modem->printer, I think it should be just fine to use a dedicated scanner as you do. I often send faxes (including contracts) through my office computer by scanning them and sending them to the receiving fax.


What about if only the signatures are scanned, and then pasted into a word perfect document?

------------------------------There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't.
quote:Original post by hello2k1
What about if only the signatures are scanned, and then pasted into a word perfect document?
That I don''t think is a good way of doing it. The problem is (probably) that what you send must also exist in physical form which you need to save. It''s better to print out the document, sign it, scan and send as a complete image or fax it. That is, I think, often done in businesses, and should be OK, assuming that US/Canadian/Swedish laws are similar in that ragard.

[As disclaimer, I''m not really qualified to answer this, so don''t quote me on it]

Be careful what you sign and send also, if it is legally binding.. what''s to stop him from cutting/pasting your signature on anything else?
Like the one post says, "Mail it to yourself." It works for my music copyrights and such. HOWEVER, you can only copyright the style of your signature, just not your name. Simply because their maybe 50 billion others with your same name in the world. So go that direction. The mailing thing holds up in court. Lata.

-TAylor
Taylor G.
In the United States The Federal Electronic Signatures Act makes documents signed by facsimile valid evidence of a binding obligation. Other laws make them valid as well. It is a common practice to fax back and forth. As a general practice, however, it is good to fed-ex hard copies to each party. Further, what is to keep them from cutting and pasting new terms as one party suggested is each party will have a copy of the agreement, if the terms do not match, somebody could be in BIG trouble for attempting perjury or attempting to defraud the court.

I''m not so sure about the "mail to yourself" thing, as its easy to replace the contents of a mailed package. My impression was that was a practice under the old copyright law to prove date of creation.
Questions about my post? You can email me at ahill@loah.biz.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Advertisement