WhatsApp messages form binding contracts, Uganda court rules

A high court in Uganda has ruled that contracts executed through WhatsApp messages are valid and enforceable.

In the case reported by the local Daily Monitor newspaper, a doctor had sued a private hospital and another doctor, seeking a declaration that they were in breach of an agreement they made on WhatsApp with the defendants for the provision of part-time medical services.

The doctor complained he was not paid per their agreement and the contention was whether such a contract was valid.

But in its ruling, the court outlined that the WhatsApp messages indicate that there was an offer made, which was accepted, and that the services were provided therefore there was a contract.

The judge said that under the Contracts Act, a contract is in writing where it is in the form of a data message; accessible in a manner usable for subsequent reference; and otherwise in words.

“WhatsApp messages are data messages and therefore form a contract under Section 3 of the Contracts Act. The court finds that there was a valid contract between the plaintiff and the defendants,” the newspaper on Monday quoted the court as saying.

The court noted that a cell phone is a computer, citing a 2006 case from India.

“The court also found that a cell phone is a computer under the definition of computer under section 2(1)(i) of the Information Technology Act of India,” the judge ruled.

“The definition of computer under the Information Technology Act of India is substantially similar to the definition of computer under the Electronic Transactions Act cited above.”

Quoting the Electronic Transactions Act, the court defined a data message as something that has to be stored by a computer.

“Under Section 2 of the Electronic Transactions Act a computer is defined as an ‘electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other data processing device or a group of such interconnected or related devices, performing logical, arithmetic or storage functions; and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such a device or a group of such interconnected or related devices’,” ruled the court.