Thumbs-up emoji accepted as a signature on the contract agreement, rules Canadian judge

Thumbs-up emoji accepted as a signature on the contract agreement, rules Canadian judge

In a surprising ruling, a Canadian judge stated that the thumbs-up emoji is just as valid as a signature, stating that the court needs to adapt to the “new reality” of how people communicate as he asked a farmer to pay C$82,000 ($61,442) for an unfulfilled contract.

The Court of King’s Bench recently heard a case in which a grain buyer with South West Terminal issued a mass text message to clients in March 2021, announcing that the company planned to purchase 86 tonnes of flax at a price of C$17 ($12.73) per bushel. The incident occurred in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Kent Mickleborough, a buyer, called farmer Chris Achter and sent him a picture of a contract that promised flax delivery in November. He requested that the farmer “please confirm flax contract” in the mail.

What is the whole case?

Achter, who lives in Swift Current town, responded to the deal with a thumbs-up emoji. However, Achter failed to deliver the flax in November, and crop prices had risen by then.

Mickleborough and Achter disagreed about the meaning of the emoji. Referring to earlier contacts confirmed via text message, the buyer indicated that the emoji meant Achter was agreeing to the contract’s terms.

Achter, on the other hand, argued that the emoji was an indicator that he had received the contract in the text message.

“I deny that he accepted the thumbs-up emoji as a digital signature of the incomplete contract,” said Achter in an affidavit. “I did not have time to review the Flax Contract and merely wanted to indicate that I did receive his text message,” he added. 

In the meanwhile, Achter’s lawyer objected to the cross-examination of his client on the meaning of the thumbs-up emoji, claiming that his client “is not an expert in emojis.”

“This court readily acknowledges that a thumbs-up emoji is a non-traditional means to ‘sign’ a document”

Justice Timothy Keene lamented that the case  “led the parties to a far-flung search for the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone in cases from Israel, New York State and some tribunals in Canada, etc. to unearth what a 👍 emoji means”.” referring to the definition of the symbol mentioned in dictionary.com.

“This court readily acknowledges that a 👍 emoji is a non-traditional means to ‘sign’ a document but nevertheless under these circumstances this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a ‘signature’,” he stated.

Keene also dismissed the defense’s concern that allowing the thumbs-up emoji to symbolize acceptance would “open the floodgates” to new interpretations of numerous emojis, such as the “fist bump” and “handshake.”

In ruling that the thumbs-up emoji can be used as a contract signature, Keene ruled that the court “cannot (nor should it) attempt to stem the tide of technology and common usage” of emojis. “This appears to be the new reality in Canadian society and courts will have to be ready to meet the new challenges that may arise from the use of emojis and the like,” he said. 

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