Technology is changing the world – and technology is always changing. It impacts on the way we live; and it underpins the way we do business.

As well as our work in the tech and fintech sectors, we provide a wide variety of technology services to business in many other industries, including particularly financial services and professional practices.

We support both vendors and users in developing, supplying and investing in new tech solutions, applying our in-depth experience and specialist skill sets to ensure that you achieve your commercial objectives whilst managing legal risk.

Technology & online expertise

  • One regulation & terms & conditions
  • Online reputation
  • Outsourcing
  • Saas agreements

Technology & online FAQs

There are a number of factors which need to be considered when negotiating SaaS agreements. These include:

  • Is the agreement B2B or B2C?
  • How many users will be permitted to use the solution?
  • Will the SaaS solution result in the processing of personal data? If so, data processing provisions will need to be included.
  • What provisions are included to protect your IPR.
  • What provisions are included to limit liability and manage legal risk.
  • As a customer, do you require service levels and service credits to be included?
  • Are there industry-specific regulations which need to be complied with?

We are experienced negotiating SaaS agreements from the customer and supplier side and assist with any queries you may have.

There are a number of laws which aim to protect consumers in the context of online sales in the UK and across the EU generally. At a high level, these rules seek to provide a level playing field for customers, including by ensuring the terms of any consumer contract are “fair” (if not, they will be unenforceable) and by providing for certain mandatory terms to be implied into consumer contracts. Failure to comply with these requirements could lead to complaints and regulatory action. We regularly advise on all aspects of e-commerce and can provide tailored advice as required.

This will depend on the terms of the software development agreement. Generally, it is rare for software to be developed from scratch by a developer, with existing software often being used as building blocks for new projects. As a result, developers will typically not agree to transfer ownership of all rights in new software to a customer. However, for bespoke software where you are to own the rights, there must be an express assignment signed by the developer – the fact that you have paid for the development does not automatically mean you own the legal title to the intellectual property rights. Please contact us should you require any assistance in carrying out such a review.

As your app is essentially a type of software which will be subject to copyright protection, one of the core requirements of the T&Cs will be to ensure that these adequately protect your intellectual property rights. The T&Cs should grant the user a licence to use the app and impose restrictions in terms of what the user is permitted to do with the app. The T&Cs should also include provisions setting out your power to terminate and suspend user accounts, limiting your liability and setting out any disclaimers you wish to include amongst other matters.

Using open source code can sometimes restrict the way in which you are able to commercially exploit your software. To ascertain whether this is the case, you will need to review the licence for the open source code you have used. Generally, these fall into two categories: permissive licences and restrictive licences. Permissive licences do not generally impose restrictions on subsequent licensing of works derived from the open source code, whereas restrictive licences do. We are experienced advising on open source software and can assist with any queries you may have.

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