OK, let's be honest. You didn't really read the EULA. How do I know? Because hardly anyone does. To prove that point, PC Pitstop included a clause in one of its own EULAs that promised anyone who read it, a "consideration" including money if they sent a note to an email address listed in the EULA. After four months and more than 3,000 downloads, one person finally wrote in. That person, by the way, got a check for $1,000 proving, at least for one person, that it really does pay to read EULAs.
Although this is not a scientific sample, it does prove a point. People don't read EULAs. When we download and install software, we're usually in a hurry to take advantage of whatever it offers. That EULA is just one more thing to spend time on, and we're not just talking about a couple of minutes. The December 2004 End User License agreement that accompanies eWallet and other programs from the GAIN network is 2,550 words long--that's seven printed pages.
Despite this, contract law doctrine gives great importance (probably too great) to a clicked consent to the terms of a EULA and an almost always false representation that the customer has read it.
Hat Tip to the Contract Profs Blog.
In another look a consumer product documentation we learn:
Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to operate the devices. . . . Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls."
The latter is particularly pertinent to product liability law, in which a "duty to warn", which often hinges on language in an instruction booklet that no one ever reads states, is key to liability in many cases.
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