Abusive Terms of Use (ToU): A Comparative Study of Common Law and Iranian Law

In today’s world, it would certainly be difficult to do without services of electronic systems. Making use of these apparently free services will come at the cost of complying with terms and conditions which have already been drafted by authors of the mentioned systems as a result of a great deal of effort and possibly in consultation with lawyers. Accordingly, in case users were aware of the mentioned terms, they either have never used them, or at least would have been reluctant to do so. On that account, the present article seeks to deal with the query as to the ideal way to deal with the imposition of unfair terms and ways to minimize its disadvantages while enjoying benefits of these terms. We advocate the thesis that a composite approach, which curbs and restricts these terms in the most efficient way possible, is the ideal way to protect rights of users as the weaker party. Therefore, in the present article, using comparative and analytical-library method, we shall examine, in three sections, methods of conclusion and contents of these terms and the proposed ways of dealing with them.