HN Explorer

Software company buried a $1K prize in its ToS

43 points by sw007 ↗ HN
Came across this on Reddit today and thought it was incredibly interesting.

The link they've linked off to doesn't appear to be working (presumably down to traffic volume).

The Reddit discussion is here - http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1baw7v/til_a_software_company_buried_a_1000_prize_deep/.

The Original link is here - http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2012/06/12/it-pays-to-read-license-agreements-7-years-later/

19 comments

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Aardwolf
Prize, not price.
hayksaakian
This is a common spelling for price in some countries that also use Latin characters.
DangerousPie
It's a prize, not a price. As in "you win" not in "you pay". :)
Samuel_Michon
“A special consideration which may include financial compensation will be awarded to a limited number of authorize licensee to read this section of the license agreement and contact PC Pitstop at consideration@pcpitstop.com. This offer can be withdrawn at any time.”

To me, that doesn't scream “no strings attached $1000 prize”. Even if I read the TOS and came across this section, I wouldn't have emailed them. I would've assumed they wanted to send me spam.

Semaphor
It was probably a no string attached prize until their lawyers looked over it.
markbernard
If your reading the terms of service they already have your email.
spoiler
I thought you had to read them before actually registering, not after.
smartwater
Absolutely correct. It would defeat the purpose to only be able to view it after registering.
scotty79
Somewhat releveant: http://www.mcmillan.ca/93388

'Purchasers granted to Gamestation a non-transferable, perpetual option "to claim, for now and forever more, your immortal soul". Such purchasers agreed to surrender said soul within 5 business days of written notification by Gamestation "or one of its authorised minions"; and while such notice could be delivered by way of notice through "6 (six) foot high letters of fire", purchasers agreed that Gamestation had no liability for damages caused by that act. At the end of the paragraph, purchasers were told that they could click on a link to nullify the provision (and, upon doing so, were rewarded for their vigilance with a voucher code that had a value of ₤5.00).'

chris_wot
Nice way to void a contract.
erydo
Most contracts include a severability clause, which basically says that if any part is found to be invalid, the rest of the contract continues to apply anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severability

waps
And that is the legal standard anyway. A judge is too enforce as much as possible of the original contract, even if it is found to be illegal. Judges are encouraged to make the minimum possible adjustments to make the contract legal.

This makes what seems to be common practice today, signing contracts you think to be illegal because they "can't be enforced" lunacy.

vertis
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the intent of PG making it EITHER comment or url to stop people from doing this.