Checklist · Technology, Media & Telecommunications / IT Contracts
SaaS subscription and negative-option checklist
A review checklist for an internet subscription. 15 USC § 8403 applies only to a charge through a negative option feature as the Telemarketing Sales Rule defines it. The rest of the commercial terms are read from the draft.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when reviewing a SaaS or other online subscription before it is signed or published. It is not the subscription agreement. It does not treat every auto-renewing contract as a negative option.
Used for these tasks
- Review a vendor contract against the technology playbook
- Build a one-sided terms table for a standard-form technology contract
- Review a SaaS agreement for AI-specific clauses
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may quote the fee, the renewal clause, and the cancellation path from the draft the lawyer provides. The lawyer decides whether section 8403 applies.
AI may
- Quote the price, the renewal, and the cancellation mechanism from the draft
- Leave the section 8403 rows blank until the lawyer has read the Telemarketing Sales Rule definition
- Flag a consent screen that asks for billing information before the material terms
AI must not
- Must not decide that the contract uses a negative option feature
- Must not rewrite the commercial terms or add a cancellation right the statute does not state
- Must not send or publish the subscription
The lawyer checks
- The negative-option definition has been read before any 8403 row is ticked
- Material terms, consent, and the stop-charge mechanism are each either present or marked missing
- Electronic-signature points are limited to the subsections that were opened
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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