Do we have a lawyer in the house

[onomatopoeia]

rant

I got an email from a customer (asking for tech support for my product) at work today with this lot in the sig:

-oOo-
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
This email may not be copied or disseminated without the prior authorisation of the author, whether by forwarding or copying this email in reply except as stated below. The recipient of this email may reply to the author with a copy of this email attached but may not copy other addressees. This e-mail is intended for the above named addressee only.
If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager on 020 xxxxxx
-oOo-

Does anyone know if these things have any validity at all? I can't see how, I haven't agreed to it before the email was sent to me. If someone sent me something unsolicited in the post and told me I couldn't give it to anyone else I would ignore them and I don't see why email should be any different

Anyway I wrote back quoting it in full and adding :

"I do not accept or consider myself bound by this. Please remove it from any further emails."

If he sends it again he's getting a "If you dont remove it I wont give you technical support" email. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, I don't know, but I get very annoyed when people try to restrict what I can do with emails they send me. I wouldn't want to send them to anyone but that's not the point. OK if I ask them for things that may be considered commercially sensitive then I undertake not to distribute it anyway, ditto when I get them to send their source code for calling our libraries so I can debug it for them (happens a lot :(, despite that our customers are all software companies) but not when they send me a question out of the blue.

/rant

That's better. Had my moan now :lol

[Jill]

I would imagine that message was tagged onto the end of your e-mail automatically because it probably applies with other e-mails the company sends. Does sounds stupid though doesn't it, don't blame you for having a rant :lol

However, it's not always necessary to gain the agreement of the other party regarding confidentiality as I found out in a different area. After a recent family court case, a court welfare officer prepared her report which was basically a summing up of what everyone felt and her recommendations. I wanted to use it outside court because it contained information that admitted lawbreaking and should have been dealt with. Sadly, I was advised that the document belongs to the court, not me, despite the fact that they sent it to me.

Perhaps this is also the case with the e-mail you've received, that effectively it remains the property of the sender, despite them having sent it to you. All sounds ridiculous to me. I don't think they have the right to tell you what you can and can't do without asking you to agree to it first!

[Rock DJ]

considering i was studying law, actually the emails aren't owned by the sender, it's owned by the site that provides the email address.

so typically you can do what ya want with it, that silly mug is just aving you on :)

[compunightmare]

Mark ...

A number of companies and individuals put such a disclaimer on their emails. What company do you work for ?. I hope that I never have the misfortune to contact them as the response you sent to that customer shows appalling customer service !!!.

Craig

[Yump]

Mark
I have received a lot of these, and I ignore them.

It is obviously a company auto-signature and is not specifically targetted. A lot of companies went down this route, probably at the height of mis-trust of the security of the internet, but I think it is old hat now.

If the document contained something over which the originator could claim "intellectual property rights" then it may have some validity - to prevent you passing it on and claiming it was yours.

Its a bit like putting "Copyright" on a document. However, the e-mail per-se is a personal communication and is not likely to be subject to such restrictions but, remember, even something sent by snail-mail (e.g. your love-letters to your mistress) is between you and the recipient legally, so the fact that it is sent electronically makes no difference.

Whether anything of this nature is considered different because it is sent electronically will only be established by case-law over time. I am not aware of any specific case law on the matter but maybe an industrious law-student, like Rock, can beaver over his books for you and enlighten us all. :)

[compunightmare]

Email disclaimers - Frequently asked questions

somis.ais.dundee.ac.uk/dataprotect/emaildis/emaildis.htm

The legal position of email disclaimers

www.weblaw.co.uk/artemail.htm

[Yump]

Eggs-cellent Craig!

Funny, I was just about to say that myself :lol

[Joe]

The length of disclaimers is becoming ridiculous. Here's the disclaimer that was tagged onto a 2-line email from the Daily Mirror. The disclaimer is 10 times longer than the message I received. But I suppose newspaper/media groups have to 'protect' themselves more than the average business.


IMPORTANT NOTICE
The information in this e-mail is confidential and should only be read by those persons to whom it is addressed and is not intended to be relied upon by any person without subsequent written confirmation of its contents. Furthermore, the content of this e-mail is the personal view of the sender and does not represent the advice, views or opinion of our company. Accordingly, our company disclaim all responsibility and accept no liability (including in negligence) for the consequences of any person acting, or refraining from acting, on such information prior to the receipt by those persons of subsequent written confirmation. In particular (but not by way of limitation) our company disclaims all responsibility and accepts no liability for any e-mails which are defamatory, offensive, racist or in any other way are in breach of any third party's rights, including breach of confidence, privacy or other rights. If you have received this e-mail message in error, please notify me immediately by telephone. Please also destroy and delete the message from your computer. Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and/or publication of this e-mail message is strictly prohibited. Trinity Mirror plc is the holding company for the Trinity Mirror group of companies and is registered in England No. 82548, with its address at Kingsfield Court, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9RE.

[mac_p300]

The Company I work for have these too. they are tagged on the end of all emails we send by the mail server and we have no control over it. Personally I think they are just plain stupid and as you say probably have no validity in law at all.

[Whizzgoat]

Good rant Ono

What about disclaimers when meeting face to face, or talking on the phone, or writing on company headed paper or faxing someone? I'd love to see this email disclaimer bolx tested in a court.

It seems to me a lot of it is "Kind Regards" related i.e. some "have a nice day" American corporate lawyer started it off and the college grads who did an **** Server lobotomy tacked it onto everyone's email by default. Bstds.

I reserve my ultimate rant for any ahole sheep who still send a cover page with a fax that states it is a "facsimile tranmsittal sheet" - omg I thought it was a doughnut emerging from the fax machine; doh...

Kind f****g regards

- not

whizzgoat

[Joe]

Coincidentally, The Register has just announced the winners of The Email Disclaimer Awards 2001 under these 6 headings:

Longest Disclaimer
Most Incomprehensible Disclaimer
Most PC Disclaimer
Best Bi-lingual Disclaimer
Best Spoof Disclaimer
Special Award for Best WWW Disclaimer


See the results here >>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/19057.html

[Yump]

Nice one Joe :lol :lol

So there you go Mark - remember the principle of "Don't get mad, get even"
Next time you are offended by an e-mole disclaimer just casually send them one back - only bigger and better :lol

[Angel]

I like the spoof one :lol

IMPORTANT: This email is intended for the use of the individual addressee(s) named above and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humour or irrational religious beliefs. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is not authorised (either explicitly or implicitly) and constitutes an irritating social faux pas.

Unless the word absquatulation has been used in its correct context somewhere other than in this warning, it does not have any legal or no grammatical use and may be ignored. No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although the kelpie next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you. Those of you with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning backwards, so just ignore that Alert Notice from Microsoft.

However, by pouring a complete circle of salt around yourself and your computer you can ensure that no harm befalls you and your pets. If you have received this email in error, please add some nutmeg and egg whites, whisk and place in a warm oven for 40 minutes.