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A comment on PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agreement. Parent comment

Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by randallsquared on Saturday February 11, 2017 @03:38PM (#13624671)
It can only be parsed different ways under incompatible assumptions about whether PayPal is a payment method.

If it actually is a payment method (as their lawyers undoubtedly take as a given), then it limits mischaracterization to aspects of PayPal that do not involve its character as a payment method.

Only if you already believe it is somehow "not a payment method" does the other reading make any sense.

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Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by __s on Saturday February 11, 2017 @04:14PM (#13624830)
I also interpreted it as "PayPal is not a payment method" when reading. Legal statements shouldn't rely on out-of-contract context to parse
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Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by guptaneil on Saturday February 11, 2017 @04:49PM (#13625033)
IANAL, but it's not exactly "out-of-contract." The term "payment method" appears 49 times in the User Agreement[1].

Having said that, a quick skim suggests the term is used inconsistently. Sometimes it refers to PayPal as a payment method, other times it refers to the information you enter into PayPal (ie credit card, bank account, etc) as payment methods. This is because PayPal is both a payment method itself and a wrapper service for many payment methods. For example:

  Your PayPal balance, if you used your PayPal balance as the payment method or a bank account as the payment method, once the money clears the bank.
So while it is confusing, I don't think you'd get very far with the "PayPal is not a payment method" interpretation.

1: https://www.paypalobjects.com/webstatic/ua/pdf/US/en_US/ua.p...

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Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by droithomme on Saturday February 11, 2017 @05:09PM (#13625140)
That is not correct. When one contracting party is in a superior position, courts consistently rule against the drafter of the agreement when there is ambiguous language. It's a long held legal principle taught in contract classes at law school.
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Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by eriknstr on Saturday February 11, 2017 @07:59PM (#13625923)
Glad to hear that.
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Re:PayPal adds “non-discouragement” clause to their User Agr... by arkades on Saturday February 11, 2017 @07:54PM (#13625900)
They ordinarily don't. A normal contract - and most EULAs, even - include explicit definitions before a term is used repeatedly.

e.g. The party receiving payment ("seller") shall...

This one didn't.

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