What with most Clickbank customers being Americans, and their love of litigation (remember the woman who sued McDonalds and won when she spilled hot coffee onto her legs in the car!!), I do wonder what might happen if some bozo wanted to sue me over a product. Has this happened before with Clickbank? Obviously a disclaimer is a basic requirement for protection. I have one but still I wonder. Who is legally liable? Technically Clickbank are the seller, right? So surely they are the ones who could be sued. Is there any liability for the author? Has anyone ever tried to sue like this and what happened? Just some food for thought and discussion, what do you think? I would be very afraid to sell anything in the USA because of their litigation culture. That is one reason why I will never move to USA, ever, because of their love for litigation! PS I posted this here because it is relevant to CB, rather than in the Legal forum.
You see if one has a health related product and in case it has caused any sort of harm to the eventual user then yes...They can press charges. But again you already have the disclaimer there which will actually shield you. And as far as I know...If you aren't in the US there is nothing much a person can do. All they can do is just get your site down which I am sure is not as bad as giving someone a huge claim. But once again...Look at the big picture. There are sites like fat loss 4 idiots who have build a 20 million dollar empire around this. Do you feel they never get any customers threatening to sue? Legal process takes a lot of money...Time and professional advice. Which I don't feel is within the reach of an average net user with average income.
I agree with Ryan, you're selling information, and advice, and remember that most of the cases is information that is freely available, you're just compiling it and re-packaging it besides with a good disclaimer there's nothing much they can do against you. Regards
I don't see someone suing someone over information in an EBook that isn't particularly expensive - especially considering how easily they can get their money back.
With the usual "I am not a doctor, don't blame me if you're penis drops off" type disclaimer you should protect yourself. Perhaps speak to a proper legal advisor if you're still concerned.
There is no disclaimer in the world that can prevent someone from suing you... It can just prevent them from prevailing. Be glad it is costly for a plaintiff to bring any suit, let alone a frivolous or "without merit" lawsuit to court. But if someone had deep pockets and was acting purely out of emotion (irrational behavior), they could damage your wallet in the process.
@rolf - Why are they suing? Because they want their money back, or because the information harmed them in some way? I like to put a big disclaimer on ALL my health websites, and I put a big one on eBooks right after the cover page.
Yeah nobody is suing but there are some people out there who will do something dumb and need someone to blame. I have the usual disclaimer on both site and after cover page of ebook, but I still wonder.
You should be more concerned about the ftc because I have seen cases where they take on cases involving online marketers even when they have their disclaimers on their website . They can even come after you if you are outside the United states, as long as you are in a developed country or a country that has ties to the Usa they can probably get you, you can read some of their recent cases by visiting www,ftc.gov (I put comma on purpose). So just focus on making sure your book delivers what you promise and you should be ok.
I have been personally threatened with lawsuits by just... over commenting on some blogs. There goes the suing culture in the U.S. I think there should be a law that prevents frivolous lawsuits. Lawsuits are really running amok in the U.S.
What I feel is a person can sue both, an author and clickbank because author is one who had provided an information and clicbank for selling those things. The more liability is towards Author itself. Disclaimer is only thing by which you can defend your self, If you are promoting health related product do take a proper legal advice.
I've this same dilemma too, but I've come up with what I think is a reasonable solution: one might add a disclaimer stating that research involving the treatment of xxx is an ongoing and everlasting process which will yield new and better results everyday and that you've provided them with information regarding the best and swiftest course of treatment for their problem as of that particular day. And that you've merely provided suggestions as to what you believe is the best way to go about it. Whether they put it into practice or not is their perogative but you are only selling them information and not a solid product....your obligation ends with giving them your information which they can later refund if they feel it isn't worth the 29 or 49 dollars their paid for it. do you see the writers of those nature cure and self-help books being sued?. It's also mostly because people are inherently lazy...especially when it comes to doing something dictated by a computer document, excruciating problem or not.