Quizlet’s Terms of Service
A: Is this contract valid? Throughout the first section of this contract, Eligibility, we see
two elements of a valid contract. 1. Competent Parties, “The Service is intended for users over
the age of 13 but is open to all ages.” For users under 13, Quizlet offers a special version of the
service, with certain restrictions. 2. Mutual Agreement, “Your use of the Service will constitute
your acceptance of these Terms of Service.” 3. Genuine Assent, this contract clearly states in the
Eligibility section that the acceptance of the contract is through the usage of their services,
making the decision completely voluntary. 4. Consideration, in the final sentences of this
section, it is stated that in exchange for the use of Quizlet, the user must warrant all registration
information be accurate, and maintained. In exchange for this service, the user adheres to this
contract. 5. Legality, in section 19, Governing Law, it states that any access or use of the Service
will be governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, regardless of location. 6, Proper
form, with Quizlet’s Terms of Service being clearly written out, and the use of service
accounting for acceptance, this contract aligns with proper form.
B: Shifts of risk? In section 11, Responsibility of Service Users, it states Quizlet’s
inability to review all content posted to their service, ultimately making them not responsible for
any content on their service. The potential risk of any harmful content that would normally be in
held responsible by the service, is now shifted to the users. Quizlet holds their users completely
liable for any content on the service.
C: Not happy about? One aspect of this contract that I would be unhappy to deal with is
in sections three and four, Subscriptions and Premium Content. In both sections, point five
clearly states a no refund policy. I tend to forget about recurring fees, and it is extremely
common for subscription services to renew and recharge automatically. However, in the case I
no longer need a subscription, it is always upsetting having lost a certain amount of money.
D. Happy about? In section 7, Prohibited Activities, it states that Quizlet is solely for
educational and study-related activities, and several actions are prohibited, and could result in
termination of an account, or reports to governmental authorities. The reason that I believe that
this section is extremely important is that it emphasizes the intended/only use of the service,
while also condemning potentially extremely harmful activities. The importance of safety, and
maintaining a school friendly environment for their platform, is enormous, alongside avoiding
any illegal activities.
E. License. We have covered concepts very similar in class, such as trademarks and
copyrights, however I found the License section to be surprising. In section 9, it states that any
submissions of content or any material to the service, grants Quizlet a “world-wide, perpetual,
royalty-free license (with right to sublicense)”. With this license, Quizlet is granted the power to,
“copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such
Content… in any and all… distribution methods.”. This section alone grants Quizlet an immense
amount of power over the intellectual property of their users. I found this surprising as I had no
idea that Quizlet had a license for all content on their service, even after using the platform for so
long.