Business E-mail Signature File Legal Statements

A site visitor writes:

I’m looking specifically for guidance regarding disclaimers which I’ve seen after a signature file. These generally include 2-3 lines about ensuring that the email is received only by the intended recipient and sometimes a bit about virus protection being the responsibility of the recipient.

The virus statements are sometimes appended by the sender’s virus software as the e-mail is being sent. I get a kick out of the statements that infer that if their e-mail contains a virus they are not responsible.

As far as the other disclaimer statements, those are just company’s and individuals trying to CYA (cover their butt). There is a Web site out there that covers the legal aspects of e-mail and disclaimers. They state right on their site:

“There is no disclaimer that can protect against actual libelous or defamatory content. The most a disclaimer can accomplish in this respect is to reduce the responsibility of the company, since it can prove that the company has acted responsibly and done everything in its power to stop employees from committing these offenses.”

http://www.emaildisclaimers.com

But the bottom line is, if an e-mail goes to the wrong person–whose fault is that? The Sender’s for sending to the wrong address by not paying attention. If someone forwards an e-mail to a third party without the sender’s permission, which folks do all the time, that it a copyright issue and they can remove the disclaimer easily anyway.

I have an article that covers online copyright issues–which is what those disclaimers are pretty much trying to facilitate that you may find helpful: