Disclaimer a statement or amendment
Disclaimer; a statement or amendment commonly used as an intention to specify or to show the limits and scopes of a law, right or obligation. From the root word, “disclaim” means to an extent of denying of a legal claim or title to. Disclaimer on the other hand, refers to an act of not acknowledging any legal actions and evading of responsibility.
It is commonly used in contracts, terms and conditions or policies of certain companies. The use of disclaimer excludes the contractor of any liability that would possibly occur on the process of the contract. The main purpose of a “disclaimer” is to provide certain terms that would be mutually agreed by both parties, the one that issued the disclaimer and the public involved respectively. It might be in ways of public notices, wall post, or even simple contracts. It aims to issue warnings to the public in order to exhibit cautiousness and lessen the risks of damages and accidents.
A disclaimer may serve as a term of the contract between the one issuing the “disclaimer” and the public which prevented from filing a case. Disclaimers such as these are mostly found in the “terms and conditions” part when a user is confronted with, when installing particular software. Once the users have accepted the “I Agree” button in the dialogue box, he/she is agreeing to this disclaimer as the contract between he/she and the software company concerned.
Disclaimers can also serve as conditions of a permission to enter a private property (e.g. land). A land owner will have certain duties to maintain the personal safety of the people allowed to enter the premises. But with a sign placed at the entry point and boundaries of the property, such as “Private Property, enter at your own risks”, the owner removes from the entrants the right to file legal charges in relevance for any damage or injury that occurred inside his property.
An example of such disclaimers is the “Website Disclaimer”, it determines the scope of liability you as a user incur for the usage of a particular website. Any damage or change in your way of living would not be blamed on the website you have accessed as well as the contents found in it. By the time you agreed to the disclaimer notice prior to the entry of the site, it removes the liability for the web developer of any damages that would happen and it is then transferred to you.
Disclaimers are also commonly used in blog sites found on the web. Bloggers put up disclaimers on their sites to inform the public or readers that what they might read as offensive does not make the blogger liable for it. A blog is used to contain the ideas and thoughts of the owner of the blog, it does not intend to alter ideas of its readers about a particular subject matter, but, only a way of a blogger to express his expressions and ideas. Disclaimers in blog sites are usually encouraged, protecting the bloggers from harmful comments that some contradicting readers might throw to them. It also explains that readers must not conclude that they know the bloggers really well since they always follow the articles made by the blogger. It is a way of protecting the rights to fair treatment of the readers towards the bloggers.
Laws on Patent also involve disclaimers. Patenting refers to the right of ownership towards a newly discovered stuff or claim of ownership for a certain product. The “disclaimer” is useful in patenting since it offers a scope and limitation on how much does the patenting cover. It could be used to inhibit the liability of damages and malfunctioning caused by the patented product. It gives the ability to disclaim any negative effects caused by the patented object due to its usage.
Disclaimer in the issue of inheritance is commonly called as Disclaimer of interest. It applies on certain conditions wherein a heir to a property of a deceased person declines to receive his shares. Thus, making it available towards the next heir in line. A particular instance such as stated occurs when the heir usually has enough wealth wherein the additional estate might not be needed by him.
Media Disclaimer- a common thing in television talk shows, at the very beginning of the show a disclaimer is shown informing the audience that “ the views and comments of the hosts does not reflect the stand of the management and the media company”. It is a way of reaching out to the audience that possible violent reactions or inappropriate verbal usage of the hosts are not intended and was not scripted by the media company. It is based on the host’s initial reactions and views on the topic being talked about.
Medical- disclaimers on these aspects are used during an operation for a patient, transfer from one hospital to another of a patient, or any forms of life and death situations that involves the respective medical institute. A contract that removes from the medical institute the liability for sudden death or acquired damages during an operation undergone by a patient at their custody. A last resort choice for dying patients as what others see it. It informs the guardian of the patient of the risks that an operation has and ask their consent to pursue the operation with the possibility of failing. It could also be used in some search engines sites that offer medical information; they show a disclaimer to inform the public that there might be some inaccurate data on their database, and thus second opinion from actual medical sites is required.
In general, disclaimers have different types of applications. It all draws up to the idea that there is a law that protects the one that issued the disclaimer from any legal charges against him if anyone tries to intrude the scope and conditions of the disclaimer. The risk is on the public, it’s either you care reading the disclaimer before proceeding or disregarding it and accept the possible consequences you might face in hand. Be aware and cautious; learn to read first before proceeding. You might left out some details that may charge you the experience.
Disclaimer used in internet consumption was developed to protect the web providers from consumers that frequently criticize their sites. On internet sites, it serves as a notice to anyone entering a site, that they are about to enter a site with certain terms and conditions that they should accept prior to proceeding to its contents. Emails on the other hand notify a sender that the contents that he/she is about to send excludes the web providers any form of liability to whether it would be sent to be. In Exchange Server transactions, disclaimer is used to prohibit the user from abuse, illegal use, and tampering of the services provided by the involved servers.
Any service rendered by exchange network is protected by copyright law and could not be used without the consent of the provider. Any unlawful act by the user would be acted upon by the appropriate charges. Disclaimer in this aspect serves as a protecting body for the web provider and to all the services that it renders to the public, as well as informing them about the possible legal charges they would face in case of breach in the terms of Usage of the services.
