{"id":51739,"date":"2016-09-30T11:27:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T16:27:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-09-30T11:27:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T16:27:00","slug":"does-an-unauthorized-user-of-a-website-consent-to-its-terms-of-use-even-when-the-user-is-borrowing-someone-elses-account-or-subscription-a-maryland-based-federal-court-correctly-says-yes","status":"publish","type":"supreme","link":"https:\/\/supreme.findlaw.com\/legal-commentary\/does-an-unauthorized-user-of-a-website-consent-to-its-terms-of-use-even-when-the-user-is-borrowing-someone-elses-account-or-subscription-a-maryland-based-federal-court-correctly-says-yes.html","title":{"rendered":"Does an Unauthorized User of a Website Consent to Its Terms of Use, Even When the User Is &#8220;Borrowing&#8221; Someone Else&#8217;s Account or Subscription? A Maryland-Based Federal Court Correctly Says Yes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7  fl-block-columns fl-sectionWithSidebar fl-container fl-flex fl-flex-wrap fl-gap30\">\n    \n    <div class=\"fl-page-articles   fl-block-column fl-section-main fl-section-main-full-width\">\n        <div class=\"yui-g\" id=\"leftcol-module\">\n      <!-- Right Line of Links Section -->\n      <!-- BEGIN PICTURE INSERTION -->\n      <!-- BEGIN TITLE AND AUTHOR INSERTION -->\n      <table>\n        <tr>\n\n          <td width=\"100\" rowspan=\"3\" class=\"wauthor\"><a href=\"\/legal-commentary\/anita-ramasastry-archive\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/static/f/images\/writ\/anita.ramasastry.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Anita Ramasastry\"><\/a><\/td>\n\n          <td class=\"wititle\"><h1>Does an Unauthorized User of a Website Consent to Its Terms of Use, Even When the User Is &#8220;Borrowing&#8221; Someone Else&#8217;s Account or Subscription? A Maryland-Based Federal Court Correctly Says Yes<\/h1><\/td>\n        <\/tr>\n\n        <tr>\n          <td class=\"wauthor\"><a href=\"\/legal-commentary\/anita-ramasastry-archive\" class=\"graybold\"><h2>By ANITA RAMASASTRY <\/h2><br><\/a><\/td>\n        <\/tr>\n        <tr>\n          <td class=\"widate\">Tuesday, April 21, 2009<\/td>\n\n        <\/tr>\n      <\/table>\n\n<p>Recently, in the case of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mdd.uscourts.gov\/Opinions\/Opinions\/CoStar-08-663-MTDOpinion.pdf%0A\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>CoStar v. Field<\/em><\/a>, a federal court in Maryland was confronted with the following  set of allegations: Two real estate  companies accessed an online real-estate database for almost four years without  authorization &#8212; by using another subscriber&#8217;s password and account. The site&#8217;s owners now want to sue the  companies. The website&#8217;s Terms of Use  (ToU) include a clause that says that all lawsuits will be resolved in the  State of Maryland. Does that clause  bind unauthorized users? The court said  yes and, as I will explain, it was right to do so. <\/p>\n<p> The issue the case raises &#8212; whether  third parties can be bound by ToU when accessing online services via another  person&#8217;s account or subscription &#8212; is arising more frequently, perhaps because  borrowing others&#8217; user IDs or passwords online is common. In this column, I will discuss the CoStar  case and also examine other cases raising this issue. <\/p>\n<div id=\"writthreetwenty\">\n  <script language=\"JavaScript\" type=\"text\/javascript\">dart_call(\"300x250\", \"ptile=2\", 0) <\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><strong>The CoStar Case <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition to offering some free online content, CoStar  operates an Internet-accessible real-estate database for paying subscribers.  Its principal place of business is Bethesda, Maryland. Its database includes photos of real property  throughout the United States and related data.  Subscribers can find properties for sale or rental, and research  brokers. <\/p>\n<p>In the recent suit, CoStar claimed that certain defendants, who  were residents of Texas and Florida, accessed the database using another  customer&#8217;s password. CoStar contends  that it properly brought suit in federal court in Maryland because its ToU  select that forum, where CoStar principally does business. <\/p>\n<p> CoStar  allows authorized users to access the information on its database for a  subscription fee. Alliance Valuation  Group in California was among its paid subscribers. Like other authorized users, Alliance received  a user identification number (&#8220;User ID&#8221;) and a pass code to access the  website. Alliance entered into two  license agreements with CoStar &#8212; the first in June 2002, and the second in  November 2004, which allowed up to 11 Alliance users to access CoStar&#8217;s  database.<br>\n   <br>\n  The  agreements provided that Alliance would not allow third parties use of CoStar&#8217;s database, and that Alliance  could not share its User ID or pass code without CoStar&#8217;s express written  consent. <\/p>\n<p>Now, CoStar alleges that Alliance shared its User ID and  pass code with two other real-estate businesses &#8212; Lawson, a Florida  corporation that performs real-property valuations and appraisals; and  Gressett, a Texas resident doing business as TGC Realty Counselors. Costar further contends that Lawson and  Gressett repeatedly used CoStar&#8217;s services, receiving the contractual benefit  that was supposed to go only to Alliance without paying for its access, and  that they illegally used photos from the website in violation of copyright  laws. In particular, CoStar alleges that  Gressett used CoStar&#8217;s database without authorization from at least April 14,  2004 to February 14, 2008 \u2013 that is, for nearly four years. CoStar also alleges that both Lawson and  Gresset contacted CoStar and asked for technical support for using the  database, and that Gresset falsely represented himself as an employee of  Alliance.<\/p>\n<p>  Eventually, Costar sued all three companies for breach of  contract and two of the defendants are also accused of fraud. However, Gresset and Lawson objected to being  sued in Maryland, and claimed that they do not have enough contacts with the  state of Maryland to be subject to a lawsuit there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can Gresset and Lawson Be Bound By the  Forum-Selection Clause In CoStar&#8217;s ToU? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  The issue of whether Gresset and Lawson are subject to the  forum-selection clause in CoStar&#8217;s Terms of Use (ToU) boils down to whether  they actually assented to it. <\/p>\n<p>  To begin, Alliance \u2013 as an authorized user &#8212; would have  been on notice of CoStars ToU, which appears on a pop-up screen the first time a  subscriber accesses the database. The subscriber  must then scroll through and affirmatively accept the ToU. Moreover, after that first use, CoStar also  reminded users of its ToU periodically. Hence, Gressett and Lawson would have  seen the ToU at various intervals during the several years during which they  allegedly used the database.<\/p>\n<p>  Furthermore, an authorized user must enter a valid user ID  and passcode at the &#8220;Subscriber Login Area&#8221; to gain authorized access to  CoStar&#8217;s database \u2013 and that area contains statements asserting that by logging  in to the database, the user agrees to CoStar&#8217;s ToU; provides links to the ToU;  and states that access is restricted to authorized users, and that the sharing  of pass codes is prohibited. Thus, if  Gresset and Lawson indeed accessed the site using Alliance&#8217;s user ID and  passcode, they would have seen the warnings and the reference to the ToU.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Specific Provision at Issue: The Forum Selection Clause<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  Alliance&#8217;s ToU also warns unauthorized users against using  the site if they lack the authority to be bound by the agreement, and it  contains a forum selection clause that provides that the user consents to the  jurisdiction of federal and state courts located in Maryland for any action to enforce the ToU&#8217;s  provisions: The clause reads as follows:<\/p>\n<p><em>You irrevocably consent to the  jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in the State of Maryland,  and to the jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in any State  where you are located, for any action brought against you in connection with  these Terms of Use or use of the Product.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>  In the  Maryland federal court in which it brought its suit, CoStar argued that Lawson  and Gressett had consented to jurisdiction in Maryland by using the database,  by accepting the ToU when accessing the database, and by perpetrating  continuous tortious conduct in Maryland for their private business  purposes. The court agreed \u2013 noting  both the site&#8217;s initial requirement that an authorized user accept the ToU, and  the fact that, since &#8220;neither Lawson nor Gressett deny accessing CoStar&#8217;s  database over several years,&#8221; they would have &#8220;had to periodically assent to  the Terms of Use in the almost four years they accessed CoStar&#8217;s database.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Courts Have Reached Similar \u2013 and  Also Correct \u2013 Conclusions Regarding the Enforceability of Terms of Use<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The  CoStar court noted in its opinion that other courts had reached the same  conclusion regarding the enforceability of ToU. In <em>Burcham v. Expedia, Inc.<\/em>, an  attorney used Expedia, a travel website, to book his hotel and the attorney  then tried to sue Expedia in Missouri, invoking Missouri consumer law. He claimed that Expedia had misrepresented the  amenities for a hotel room he had booked on the site. <\/p>\n<p>In  response, Expedia supplied an affidavit which showed that Burcham&#8217;s booking had  been made by a process under which an Expedia user was presented with a legend  stating &#8220;By continuing on you agree to the following terms and  conditions.&#8221; Beneath the legend,  the full text of the ToU was displayed. <\/p>\n<p>After  being confronted with this evidence, Burcham noted that he did not recall  seeing the ToU on Expedia. He also suggested that he might have used the site  from a shared computer at his law office without checking to see if a prior  user of the computer was already logged on with a different User ID. He claimed that a prior user might have  clicked past the ToU, but the ToU were never presented to him. The court, however, determined that Burcham  still had to comply with the ToU&#8217;s forum selection clause, even if he had  accessed the account while logged in as another user. <\/p>\n<p> The  Costar court also cited another case, <em>Motise  v. America Online, Inc. <\/em>There, a  parent had  signed up for an AOL account, accepting AOL&#8217;s user agreement, and his stepson  apparently shared the account. The court  held that the stepson, too, was bound by AOL&#8217;s user agreement for forum selection  purposes \u2013 even if the  stepson was not asked to view, and did not assent to, the agreement. The court found that the stepson was a &#8220;sublicensee,&#8221;  with the stepfather being the direct  licensee \u2013 and the stepson&#8217;s derivative rights were limited by the stepfather&#8217;s  direct rights. The court noted that to rule otherwise  would mean that users could avoid AOL&#8217;s Terms of Service &#8220;simply by having  third parties create accounts.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>In sum,  decisions like these should put us all on notice that even if we are borrowing  someone else&#8217;s account, we are still bound by the same online user agreement  that binds the original user. Put  another way, using the account and accessing a service is enough to create  implied consent to a site&#8217;s contract \u2013 even if we have never read a word of  that contract.<\/p>\n<!-- BEGIN AUTHORS FOOTNOTE -->\n<hr size=\"1\">\n<p class=\"authorfoot\">\n<a name=\"bio\"><\/a>Anita Ramasastry, a FindLaw  columnist, is the D. Wayne and Anne Gittinger Professor of Law at the  University of Washington School of Law in Seattle and a Director of the Shidler  Center for Law, Commerce &amp;amp Technology. She has previously written on  business law, cyberlaw, computer data security issues, and other legal issues  for this site, which contains an <a href=\"\/legal-commentary\/anita-ramasastry-archive\/\">archive of her columns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/div>\n<div class=\"was-this-helpful\">\n    <div\n            class=\"was-this-helpful__question-container\"\n            aria-labelledby=\"was-this-helpful__question\"\n            role=\"group\"\n    >\n        <span\n                id=\"was-this-helpful__question\"\n                class=\"was-this-helpful__question fl-text-lg-bold\"\n        >Was this helpful?<\/span>\n        <button\n                class=\"was-this-helpful__button fl-text-sm\"\n                aria-label=\"Yes\"\n                value=\"yes\"\n        >\n            <span class=\"was-this-helpful__button-text fl-text-bold\">Yes<\/span>\n            <i class=\"was-this-helpful__button-icon\">\n                <svg width=\"22\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 22 22\" 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