Method and process for creating an electronically signed document

At a computer system, a computer program product for use in implementing a method for signing an electronic document with a legally enforceable electronic signature the computer program product comprising one or more computerized storage media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method including the following:

• determine that an electronic document has reached a state appropriate for one or more human signers to electronically sign the document;
• register the electronic document with a document publication service;
• receive a URL from the document publication service, the UIRL indicating a location of the electronic document at the document publication service so that arbitrary recipients that lack prior knowledge of the electronic document's location can utilize the URL to access electronic document from the document publication service;
• receive authorization, under the control of a user of the computer system, to electronically sign the electronic document with an electronic signature corresponding to a human signer of the electronic document;
• embed a legally enforceable electronic signature for the human signer into the electronic document, the embedded electronic signature tying the identity of the human signer to the document, wherein the electronic signature comprises:
• a barcode, the barcode comprising:
• a scannable representation of the URL;
• a unique document ID identifying the document;
• and
• a unique signature ID relating to the signer of the document;
• receive an indication that the human signer authorizes paper versions of the electronic document including the digital signature to be accepted as containing a valid signature;
• embed language in the electronic document to indicate that the human signer authorizes paper versions of the electronic document including the digital signature to be accepted as containing a valid signature such that printed copies of the electronic document retain the legal enforceability of the electronic document based on inclusion of the bar code;
• and
• publish the electronic document to the document publication service for electronic storage at the indicated location, the stored version of the electronic document for use in automated and visual comparisons to other versions of the electronic document, including paper versions of the electronic document, during subsequent attempts to determine the legality of the content of the electronic document.

At a computer system, a computer implemented method for determining the legality of a document, the method comprising the acts of:

• receiving a paper version of a registered electronic document from a document sender, the paper version of the registered electronic document including a bar code representing an electronic signature, the electronic signature tying the identity of a human signer to the registered electronic document, wherein embedded within the barcode is:
• a scannable representation of a URL, the URL indicating the location of the registered electronic document electronically stored at a document publication service, embedding the URL within the electronic signature protecting the URL with a tamper seal giving legally binding status to the indicated location, the legally binding status making the indicated location part of the document;
• a unique document ID identifying the registered electronic document;
• and
• a unique signature ID relating to the signer of the registered electronic document;
• reading the contents of the barcode to obtain the URL, the document ID, and the signature ID;
• submitting the URL to the document publication service to request the registered electronic document from the document publication service;
• electronically accessing an electronic copy of the registered electronic document from the indicated location;
• performing one or more of an automated comparison and a visual comparison between the received paper version of the registered electronic document and the electronically accessed copy of the registered electronic document;
• determining that the paper version of the registered electronic document is valid based on the results of performing the one or more of an automated comparison and a visual comparison;
• accessing embedded language in the paper version of the electronic document, the embedded language indicating that the human signer of the registered electronic document authorizes paper versions of the electronic document including the bar code to be accepted as containing a valid signature such that paper copies of the registered electronic document retain the legal enforceability of the registered electronic document based on inclusion of the bar code;
• and
• determining the paper version of the registered electronic document is a legally enforceable document based on the validity determination and the embedded language.

At a computer system, a computer program product for implementing a method for determining the legality of a document, the computer program product comprising one or more computerized storage media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed at a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method including the following:

• accessing a scanned version of a registered electronic document from a document sender, the scanned version of the registered electronic document scanned from a paper version of the registered electronic that was received from a document sender, the scanned version of the registered electronic document including a bar code representing an electronic signature, the electronic signature tying the identity of a human signer to the registered electronic document, wherein embedded within the barcode is:
• a representation of a URL, the URL indicating the location of the registered electronic document electronically stored at a document publication service, embedding the URL within the electronic signature protecting the URL with a tamper seal giving legally binding status to the indicated location, the legally binding status making the indicated location part of the document;
• a unique document ID identifying the registered electronic document;
• and
• a unique signature ID relating to the signer of the registered electronic document;
• read the contents of the barcode to obtain the URL, the document ID, and the signature ID;
• submit the URL to the document publication service to request the registered electronic document from the document publication service;
• electronically access an electronic copy of the registered electronic document from the indicated location;
• perform one or more of an automated comparison and a visual comparison between the scanned version of the registered electronic document and the electronically access copy of the registered electronic document;
• determine that the scanned version of the registered electronic document is valid based on the results of performing the one or more of an automated comparison and a visual comparison;
• access embedded language in the scanned version of the electronic document, the embedded language indicating that the human signer of the registered electronic document authorizes scanned versions of the electronic document including the bar code to be accepted as containing a valid signature such that scanned copies of the registered electronic document retain the legal enforceability of the registered electronic document based on inclusion of the bar code;
• and
• determine that the paper version of the registered electronic document is a legally enforceable document based on the validity determination and the embedded language.