The thumbs-up emoji can represent an official signature, says Canada court

In India, the fingerprint of an inked thumb is the only other alternative to a signature. However, in Canada, a Saskatchewan court has recently made a ruling that deems a "thumbs-up" emoji as a valid equivalent to a signature!

It all started with a farmer…

Kent Mickleborough is a local grain buyer who sent a mass text chain to his clients in March 2021. Mickleborough’s company was aiming to purchase 86 tonnes of flax back then. When he spoke to farmer Chris Achter asking him to confirm an order of flax in November (sharing a picture of a contract on text), Achter offered his approval in the most Gen-Z way possible: a thumbs up emoji. 

However, Achter did not deliver the flax until November, by which time flax crop prices had risen.

What was the meaning of the emoji?? 

The interpretation of the emoji is disputed by Mickleborough and Achter. The buyer cited past contracts verified through text message, implying that the emoji suggested Achter was agreeing to the contract's conditions. 

But, according to the farmer himself, the emoji just indicated that he had received the text message for the contract. 

After Mickleborough was ready to take Achter to court for not sticking to his delivery deadline, Achter said in a legal affidavit that he denies that “he [Mickleborough] accepted the thumbs-up emoji as a digital signature of the incomplete contract.” 

I did not have time to review the Flax Contract and merely wanted to indicate that I did receive his text message.” He added.

What happened at court? 

As the legal proceedings began, it seemed like a satirical scene of Better Call Saul is in progress. Achter’s lawyer argued that his client’s cross-examination is not necessary because his client is simply not an emoji expert.

Baffled with the absurd legal battle unfurling in front of him, Justice Timothy Keene even resorted to searching the symbol on dictionary.com to find out its exact meaning. 

Keene wrote in an official statement, “This court readily acknowledges that a 👍 emoji is a non-traditional means to ‘sign’ a document but nevertheless under these circumstances this was a valid way to convey the two purposes of a ‘signature’,”

Acknowledging that signatures can change with a “new reality in Canadian society”, keene believes that courts will have to reshape strategies to adjust with the new emojis. 

The farmer has been ordered to pay C$82,000 (50,80,233 INR) for the unfulfilled flax contract.