In case you didn’t hear, Kickstarter announced that it’s revising its terms of service. The changes will apply to projects launched on or after October 19, 2014.
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform. People can launch a project they need funding for and backers and pledge a specified amount of money to support it in exchange for a benefit listed on the project’s page. The creator has to state their fundraising goal and deadline on their project page and backers only have to pay if the goal amount is reached.
Kickstarter provides a forum for people needing funding and potential backers to find each other. They don’t really get involved beyond that. Kickstarter makes to guarantee that the creator will follow through on their obligations to complete the project and they stay out of disputes between creators and backers except to assist law enforcement with fraud investigations.
In the new terms of service, Kickstarter still doesn’t get involved in disputes but they provide guidelines regarding what should happen if a creator can’t complete their obligations. The new terms say, “If a creator is unable to complete their project and fulfill rewards, they’ve failed to live up to the basic obligations of this agreement. To right this, they must make every reasonable effort to find another way of bringing the project to the best possible conclusion for backers.”
When a project is funded, it creates a contract between the creator and backers. If the creator doesn’t perform as promised, they’ve breached the contract and must amend the wrong. I think these new terms are an acknowledgement that Kickstarter realizes their users are beginners in the business world, and so it’s helpful to provide this additional information and guidance for situations when a creator can’t follow through after being funded.
Hat tip to Kickstarter for replacing the legalese in the previous terms of service with everyday language. The new verbiage and the layout of the terms are much more user-friendly and appropriate for your audience. I wish more sites were like this.
If you’re interested in talking more about the legalities of using Kickstarter or website terms of service, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me. You can also subscribe to the Carter Law Firm newsletter.
Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.