IT has become a critical component of success for every business, and yet businesses all too often fail to adequately protect this critical component. Rather, they purchase hardware on standard purchase orders containing onerous vendor-favorable terms. Moreover, software development, hosting and e-commerce solutions are often procured based upon handshakes.
Whether it is software development, hosting, e-commerce, hardware or software acquisition, it is imperative that your business specifically details performance standards, ownership, warranties and other critical legal rights. Anything less and you are asking for it.
How Epiphany Law Can Help
Information technology is a lot less confusing when you have an experienced business law attorney by your side. we know the critical questions to ask. We understand what representations should be included and which are merely fluff.
Questions & Answers
Q: What critical things should be covered in a Software Development Agreement?
A: First is ownership. Unless you have a written agreement that assigns ownership to your company, the developer owns “your” software and can license it to anyone, including your competitors , even if you defined the specifications and paid for it. Second is defining specific performance requirements. Simply stating “an interface between billing and sales software” doesn’t cut it. You need to spend the time up front defining exactly what functionality is included.