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Misunderstanding about emoji – farmer has to pay 56,500 euros
Various emojis can be seen on a tablet. photo
© Jörg Carstensen/dpa
Can a thumbs-up emoji sign a binding contract? A court in Canada has ruled.
A Canadian farmer has to pay a prospective buyer 82,200 Canadian dollars (56,500 euros) because of a misunderstood emoji. The court found that by sending a thumbs-up, the farmer had entered into a binding contract.
He was thus obliged to deliver flax at a later date, according to the reasoning for the judgment, which was initially reported by Canadian television CBC reported. Because he did not comply with this obligation and the prices for flax later rose, the farmer had to pay the buyer the difference between the originally agreed price and the later market price.
The buyer at South West Terminal sent text messages to several farmers in March 2021, offering to buy 86 tons of flax at 17 Canadian dollars per bushel (around 25 kilograms) in the fall. The farmer from Swift Current, Saskatchewan was successfully contacted and the buyer agreed over the phone to text a contract.
He did this a little later, combined with a request to the supplier to confirm the contract. The farmer sent the “thumbs up” symbol, but doesn’t claim to have made a digital signature with it. According to his statement, it was only a promise to devote himself to the matter at a later date. In the fall, the delivery stopped and the prices had risen.
The court ruled that the buyer suffered damage because of the higher prices. It calculates in the judgment that the approximately 82,200 Canadian dollars correspond to the difference between the price in February and the market price at the end of November on the agreed delivery date.
The judge argued that it was an unusual form of signature. However, such types of consent could well be done in this way today.
Verdict CBC report