I must respectfully disagree. It can be a significant and useful feature of a contract fully negotiated by parties of equal bargaining power and it comes up quite frequently as something desired by both sides in contracts between sophisticated entities like businesses.
I do however find clauses like this absolutely abhorrent in a take it or leave it contract where the bargaining power is grossly uneven. I find it even more disturbing when such contracts are essentially presented after the fact, such as when printed on the back of a ticket or...included as part of a mandatory update for a system you purchased long ago and can no longer return.
This. I feel that the law should make a sharp distinction between "a contract fully negotiated by parties of equal bargaining power and it comes up quite frequently as something desired by both sides in contracts between sophisticated entities" and the sort of cookie-cutter fine-print contracts that consumers are presented with. One should be able to agree to very broad things in a fully negotiated contract. Consumer contracts, on the other hand, should be quite restricted both in power and in length.
I do however find clauses like this absolutely abhorrent in a take it or leave it contract where the bargaining power is grossly uneven. I find it even more disturbing when such contracts are essentially presented after the fact, such as when printed on the back of a ticket or...included as part of a mandatory update for a system you purchased long ago and can no longer return.