Canadian court rules thumbs up emoji a legally binding agreement
Sending a thumbs up emoji could now be considered a legal signature on official documents, a Canadian judge ruled.
The case, involving South West Terminal Ltd. and Achter Land & Cattle Ltd., centered around a contract dispute between farmer Chris Achter and grain buyer Kent Mickleborough. The disagreement arose when Achter failed to deliver the agreed-upon 87 metric tons of flax to Mickleborough after confirming the contract with a thumbs-up emoji in response to a text message.
According to court documents, Mickleborough signed the contract for the deal and texted a picture of it to Achter, along with the message “Please confirm the flax contract.” In response, Achter agreed by sending a thumbs-up emoji. Achter, however, did not deliver the flax to Mickleborough, so the grain buyer initiated a lawsuit, claiming Achter’s thumbs up emoji as an acceptance of the contract.
On June 8, Judge Timothy Keene from the Court of King’s Bench in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, issued a ruling stating that the thumbs-up emoji sent by Achter indeed indicated his acceptance of the contract. As a result, Keene ordered Achter to compensate Mickleborough with $82,200 in Canadian dollars or $61,000 in U.S. currency.
Why did the court accept this precedent and what might this mean going forward?
Despite being an untraditional signature, Judge Keene highlighted that under the circumstances, the emoji effectively conveyed the elements of a traditional signature.
“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’,” Keene wrote.
This decision was made in a specific contract dispute but its impact on the legal landscape still remains. Emojis have become widely used in online interactions and convey emotions and reactions. As technology continues to shape communication, legal systems will likely adapt to accommodate these forms of expression and whether emojis could be recognized as valid signatures in various contractual arrangements, beyond simple agreements.