A recent case was dismissed before trial, as the terms of the end user agreement (EULA template) were so well drafted that as a matter of law it helped to resolve the main issue in the case. In Hayes vs SpectorSoft Corporation (dated November 3, 2009) the judge dismissed the entire case at the Summary […]
Did You Know the US Supreme Court Changed Software and SaaS Distributor – Reseller Law in 2007? I bet you missed it, but I always look for the software law perspective of these cases (how does this apply to software/SAAS reseller agreement, software/SAAS distribution agreements and software/SAAS oem agreements). The law used to be that […]
Ok, ok this is a legal blog, so I am actually talking about naked trademark licensing issues here — a few nuggets for every software or SAAS executive to think about for their software or SAAS partner agreement, SAAS OEM agreement, etc. “Naked Licensing” is in essence a legal defense to a trademark infringement claim, […]
I am a big believer that you have to build trust with your customers before they will work with you. So why does this matter to a lawyer? Well, for a SAAS company to build trust with its SAAS agreement, it needs to look bigger and more sophisticated that it actually is to its customers. […]
People often ask me can I use this or that work of a copyright owner. Basically, as a copyright attorney, there is a legal concept called ‘fair use’ which allows non-copyright owners to use copyrighted works in certain situations. What are the situations? Well, this is one of those it depends, as there is a […]
The Altimeter Group recently published a report called the Customer Bill of Rights: Software-as-a-Service which caught my attention, as I am a SAAS attorney who works on SAAS agreements (some people call them SAAS license agreements). The report is titled ’39 Best Practices to Improve Client – Vendor Relationships.’ I am not sure that this […]
One of the things I am really passionate about (as a software copyright attorney) is simplifying complex issues in the law (maybe that is how I process things) and I have found that software law is too complex for most people to really effectively deal with. As the title suggests, I am going to try […]
As a software copyright attorney, I try to keep up with the most recent cases affecting software companies. As a recent case decided on September 21, 2009 illustrates, if your goal is to keep your pricing information or price lists confidential you should protect that information through the consistent use of confidentiality agreements/non-disclosure agreements. In […]
“New” Non-Latin Based Domain Name Extensions: What Is This All About? You may have heard that ICANN (the group that manages naming conventions on the Internet) recently announced that domain names will now be allowed in non-Latin languages. This may not seem like a big issue from the US perspective, as we are all used […]
As a software copyright attorney, I realize a lot of the new way of marketing is based on becoming a publisher, but some people may not realize that there are important copyright issues in play here, which should be thought through, as they may be counter intuitive. General Rule – The Creator Owns the Content. […]
I have found it interesting that there is too often a different perspective between when business people and lawyers think a Software Licensing or SAAS deal is done. I have met some business people that believe the deal is done once they orally discuss (not necessarily agree to) certain important terms. On the other hand, […]
Who Else is Streamlining Their Agreements (software attorney’s take)? It appears that other legal minds out there (other than a software attorney) are thinking of ways to streamline agreements, as the in-house team at Scottish & Newcastle (a beverage company based in Scotland (I had to look that up)) has documented their view on the […]
How does the App Store Handle App Licensing (you know, Software EULAs)? In essence we are going to look at something I call ‘platform licensing,’ for lack of a better term in terms of the App store licensing (you know, software EULA and software licensing agreement issues). iPhone users for example, may notice (or in […]