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16 Berk. Tech. L.J. 461 (2001)
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act

handle is hein.journals/berktech16 and id is 473 raw text is: COMPUTER INFORMATION: CONTRACT ENFORCEABILITY THE UNIFORM COMPUTER INFORMATION TRANSACTIONS ACT By Brian D. McDonald The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)1 creates a uniform commercial code for computer information transactions. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), the drafting body for UCITA, approved and recommended UCITA for enactment in all fifty states in July 1999.2 UCITA provisions cover a wide variety of topics related to computer information including, but not limited to, standard software licenses, contracts for the custom de- velopment of computer programs, licenses to access online databases, website user agreements, and agreements for most Internet-based informa- tion.3 The NCCUSL passed UCITA in hopes of clarifying the law govern- ing these computer information transactions and making the law uniform among the various jurisdictions.4 Since UCITA's inception, efforts to establish a uniform state law gov- erning computer information transactions have been fraught with contro- versy.5 State legislators have severely criticized UCITA provisions. As of January 2001, only two states had adopted UCITA while most other states had either refused to consider it or had tabled it indefinitely.6 This Note tracks the most significant of these legislative developments and analyzes their likely effect on the future of UCITA. Part I outlines the history of UCITA and the most salient issues sur- rounding its drafting. Part II discusses the three most significant responses taken by the states in response to UCITA: Virginia (nearly full adoption), Maryland (qualified adoption), and Iowa (adoption of a bomb-shelter © 2001 Regents of the University of California. 1. UNIF. COMPUTER INFO. TRANSACTIONS ACT, available at http://www.law.upenn.edu/bil/ulc/ucita/ucitaFinalO0.pdf (Sep. 29, 2000) [hereinafter UCITA]. 2. See Carol A. Kunze, UCITA, at http://www.ucitaonline.comUCITA.html (last revised Feb. 8, 2001). 3. See UCITA, supra note 1, Prefatory Note, at 1-2. 4. Richard Raysman & Peter Brown, Will States Enact Uniform Software Licens- ing Act?, 222 N.Y. L.J. 3 (1999). 5. See Laura Gasaway, States Begin to Adopt UCITA-Model Legislation for Li- censing, INFO. OUTLOOK, June 1, 2000, at 53-54. 6. See Carol A. Kunze, What's Happening to UCITA in the States, at http://www.ucitaonline.com/whathap.html (last revised Feb. 6, 2001).

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