Canadian farmer fined $60,000 for like (2 photos)

The court recognized that the image of a hand with a large a finger can be the equivalent of a signature when making deals.





An interesting judicial precedent happened the other day in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The local judge decided that the emoji "finger up" is taken into account on a par with the signature, explaining this by the fact that today we have to take into account the "new reality" in the communication of people with each other.

The court found that the like sent by farmer Chris Achter in personal correspondence with businessman Kent Micklebor is considered to be signing business contract. The latter sent a request for the supply of 86 tons of flax and asked the farmer to confirm the deal, which he did by sending thumb up image.

Micklebor, of course, thought that the farmer was thus agreed to the deal. However, he did not wait for flax and sued Akhter. The judge fined the farmer $82,000 dollars (61 thousand US dollars).



During the hearing, Micklebor said that Akhter had previously "signed" (confirmed) contracts using text messages, therefore, he perceived the like sent by him as the conclusion of an agreement. Akhter, on the other hand, insisted that he only confirmed the receipt of the emoticon. contract, not a deal.

Interestingly, the farmer's advocate drew attention to the fact that permission to use the thumbs up symbol will open Pandora's box - how will the court interpret other symbols later in similar lawsuits like shaking hands or punching. However, in the final decision the judge noted that the court cannot and should not prevent spread of technology and a new way of communication.

It looks like this is the new reality of Canadian society and the courts must be ready to face new challenges that may arise in links using emoji and similar options