Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
August 1999, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) approved a draft model code designed to make shrink wrap and click wrap licenses enforceable. UCITA has been proposed for adoption in a variety of state legislatures. However, as of October 2003 only Virginia and Maryland had adopted UCITA. Furthermore, at least one federal court has rejected the idea behind UCITA that a software transaction is a license of intellectual property rather than a sale of goods. See Softman Products Co., LLC v. Adobe Sys., Inc., 171 F. Supp. 2d 1075 (C.D. Cal. 2001).
In February 2003, NCCUSL withdrew UCITA from debate before the American Bar Association’s governing body, and in August 2003, decided to stop pushing the legislation in the states.
History
UCITA has started as an attempt to modify Uniform Commercial Code, by introducing new article (Article 2B), also known as UCC2B.
Committee for drafting UCC2B consisted of both members from NCCUSL and members of American Law Institute (ALI). At certain stage of the process, ALI has withdrawn from the drafting process, effectively killing UCC2B. Afterwards, NCCUSL has renamed UCC2B into UCITA and proceeded on its own.
Passage Record
Before ratification, each state may amend its practices, thus specific effects may be somewhat different in each state. This means that the final "as read" UCITA document is what is actually passed and signed into law by each state governor. The passage record typically indicates each version of UCITA submitted for ratification.
- Maryland (passed April 2000): http://mlis.state.md.us/2000rs/billfile/hb0019.htm
- Virginia (passed 2000) : http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?001+ful+SB372ER