The High-touch Legal Services® Blog…for Startups!

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Software Escrow No Longer Required

Picture of a lock box, symbolizing software escrowSoftware escrow requirements once were common in my law practice. In this post, I will explain why that no longer is the case.

I have seen such arrangements principally with respect to software that a developer hosts (software as a service – SaaS). In a software escrow, the developer delivers a copy of the software’s source code to an escrow company. The developer provides updated versions of the source code from time to time.

If the developer goes out of business, the escrow company delivers the source code to the developer’s licensee (customer). The licensee then has the right to use and modify the source code for its own internal purposes. (more…)

Negotiating Software Licenses – What Really Counts

Photo of shaking hands, which symbolizes negotiating software license agreementsThis post addresses the most important issues that are raised in negotiating software licenses.

I will assume that parties have agreed on pricing. (Otherwise, there is no point negotiating license terms!) In addition, I will ignore the lengthy legal “boilerplate” that appears in most software license agreements.

Four Critical Issues in Negotiating Software Licenses

In my experience, there are four issues that must be examined closely, and often result in much discussion, when negotiating software licenses. (more…)

How I Sent my Client Weird E-mails

Gmail logo

This post is somewhat off-topic for my blog, being less about business and more about technology. However, it is being written in the context of my forming a corporation for a new client, and it discusses an issue that I find interesting, so here it is. When I noted that the client and I were having trouble communicating effectively online, he commented that some of my e-mails were “weird”.

I had never encountered these sorts of problems before. The client sent screen shots and a description of his actions. I then saw the source of the problem: I use Outlook, while my client uses Gmail.

(more…)