SaaS Agreements – New EU and UK Laws Applicable to Online Platforms

Below is a summary of the following online platform laws:

that will impact SaaS suppliers and SaaS customers in 2026.

Some of these laws apply extra-territorially, meaning the laws apply even when a SaaS supplier is not located in the UK or the EU (respectively). It is important to be aware of these new laws in order to assess whether or not they apply to your particular SaaS business, products and services.

The EU Digital Services Act (DSA)

The DSA updates the E-Commerce Directive to increase online service provider’s obligations for their online platforms and content shared on them. Most provisions only apply to:

  • Very large online platforms, (VLOPs), e.g. Amazon, Apple; or
  • Search engines with an average monthly user base in the EU of more than 45 million people (VLOSEs), e.g. Bing, Google.

There are some exemptions for VLOPs and VLOSEs based upon numbers of employees and annual sales.

It is important to note that SaaS suppliers who are not VLOPs or VLOSEs could be subject to the DSA because they provide hosting services.

The DSA sets our mandatory obligations in respect of:

  • Illegal content – obligation to permit complaints and remove content;
  • Accountability – obligations to report on content moderation; and
  • Transparency – obligation to provide information on automatic decision making and content moderation.

The DSA applies to all intermediary services established in the EU and those with a “substantial connection” to the EU. A substantial connection can exist where numbers of recipients of the intermediary service in one or more EU Member States in relation to their population is large, or the SaaS supplier targets activities towards one or more EU Member States.

Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 6% of annual global turnover.

The DSA applies extra-territorially.

Non-EU entities subject to the DSA must appoint an EU Representative.

The EU European Accessibility Directive (EAA)

The EAA is an EU directive. Each EU Member State must pass its own local law to enact its provisions. The EAA aims to make certain types of products and services identified in the EAA more accessible to individuals with disabilities. For example: online banking services and ticket machines. There are no specific technical standards that a SaaS supplier whose products or services are caught by the EEA must comply with, but compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) web accessibility standards is advisable.

The EAA applies to SaaS suppliers with at least ten staff and a turnover of more than 2m Euros who sell relevant goods and services to consumers based in the EU, regardless of where the SaaS supplier is located.

The EAA is currently in force for some relevant goods and services placed on the EU market on, or after, the 28th of June 2025 and for all relevant goods and services regardless of when they were placed on the market from the 28th of June 2030.

The EAA applies extra-territorially.

The UK Online Safety Act (OSA)

The OSA is the UK’s own version of the DSA, but with significant differences. For example: with detailed measures on online child protections. The OSA applies to online search engines and user to user services that permit access to content generated or shared by other users, i.e. content-sharing platforms, social media platforms, online marketplaces, online gaming services, blogs, and forums.

OFCOM published a Children’s Safety Code of Practice in April 2024, (Code). Following the Code is not mandatory, but services applying the measures set out in the Code will be deemed to comply with their OSA obligations relating to children’s safety. Other compliance measures may be applied, but services will be required to demonstrate that any alternative measures match the standards set out in the Code.

The UK Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC)

The DMCC is a UK law that amends the Consumer Rights Act 2015. It mainly relates to consumer law in relation to drip pricing, fake reviews and has a list of blacklisted practices that will be deemed unfair under UK consumer law. The DMCC apples to companies operating in the UK, regardless of where they are incorporated, provided they have a global turnover of more than 25 billion or a UK turnover of more than 1 billion pounds Sterling.

Although this is a consumer law, the provisions could apply BTB, if the BTB relationship relates to the promotion or supply of products to consumers. For example: any product claims (i.e. green claims) that could be made by suppliers that are repeated to resellers, who sell to consumers.

Most of the DMCC consumer law provisions are already applicable, except for the new subscription contract rules, which will apply from Spring 2026. For example: providing certain pre-contract information, reminder notices and mechanisms for cancellation in consumer subscription contacts.

The CMA regulator can impose fines of up to 300,000 GBP or 10% of a company’s annual global turnover, whichever is higher, for breaches and the DMCC applies extra-territorially.

The Revised EU Product Liability Directive (PLD)

The PLD is an EU directive that will apply to all products (including software) placed on the EU market from the 9th of December 2026. Each EU Member State must pass its own national law to implement the PLD before the 9th of December 2026.

Software, firmware, applications, AI systems, and digital manufacturing files will become “products” and will be subject to the same strict liability regime as traditional physical goods.

The PLD will apply to integrated and interconnected digital services, such as “a health monitoring service that relies on a physical product’s sensors to track the user’s physical activity or health metrics”, smart products, IoT, automated vehicles, drones etc. when marketed in the EU.

From December 2026 any defect in software, including vulnerabilities or failures in digital services, may trigger strict liability under the PLD, if the defect causes harm.

The PLD will apply extra-territorially.

Actions to Take Now

There are a lot of new EU and UK laws now in force, coming into force in stages or into force in the next 18 months that could affect SaaS Suppliers.

After considering the above summary, SaaS suppliers need to consider which of the above laws do, could, or may, apply to their products and services that they supply or the sectors in which they their business operates. This will depend upon numerous different factors for each law, such as:

  • The location of the SaaS supplier;
  • The location of customers, suppliers, data holders;
  • Whether services are provided BTB or BTC;
  • The global turnover of the SaaS supplier;
  • The sector in which the SaaS supplier operates;
  • The types of services being provided by the SaaS supplier;
  • The sector in which the SaaS customer operates;
  • Whether or not IoT services are provided; and
  • The specific EU country in which the SaaS supplier, its customers or the services are being made available.

Each of the above laws will need to be assessed separately to determine if, and how, they apply.

Irene Bodle is an IT lawyer specialising in SaaS agreements, GDPR and cloud computing with over 15 years experience in the IT sector. If you require assistance with any SaaS or cloud computing contracts, GDPR or any other IT legal issues please contact me:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com

www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

SaaS Agreements – New EU and UK Data Laws

Below is a summary of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, the EU Data Act and the UK Data Use and Access Act that will impact SaaS suppliers and SaaS customers in 2026. These laws will apply extra-territorially, meaning the laws apply even when a SaaS supplier is not located in the UK or the EU (respectively). It is important to be aware of these new laws in order to assess whether or not they apply to your particular SaaS business, products and services.

The EU AI Act applies to AI systems and AI models and categorises AI systems into different risk categories.

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act)

The four risk categories are:

  • Unacceptable risk systems – prohibited since the 2nd of February 2025 e.g. social scoring, crime prediction systems;
  • High Risk systems – subject to onerous requirements since August 2025 e.g. medical devices, education and recruitment systems;
  • Limited Risk systems – subject to transparency requirements from the 2nd of August 2026 e.g. GPAI systems; and
  • Minimal Risk systems – which are subject to some general requirements.

The provisions of the EU AI Act come into effect in phases, based upon the risk category of the AI system.

The EU AI Act applies to:

  • Providers who place AI systems on the market or put AI systems into service, or who place general purpose AI models (GPAI) on the market in the EU for example: ChatGPT, irrespective of where the provider is established or located;
  • Deployers of AI systems that are established or located within the EU;
  • Providers or deployers of AI systems that are established or located outside the EU, where output produced by the AI system is used in the EU;
  • Product manufacturers who place on the market or put into service an AI system together with their product, under their own name or trademark in the EU;
  • Authorised representatives of a provider not established in the EU; and
  • Affected persons located in the EU.

The European Commission has published Guidelines on prohibited artificial intelligence (AI) practices and Guidelines determining if a software system is an AI System to assist providers, deployers and other relevant persons in determining how the AI Act applies to them.

Breaches of the EU AI Act can result in fines of:

  • 35m Euros or 7% of annual global turnover for prohibited AI systems, whichever is higher;
  • 15m Euros or 3% of annual global turnover for general purpose AI (GPAI) systems, whichever is higher.

Each Member State must designate national competent authorities responsible for implementing the AI Act and conducting market surveillance.

The AI Act applies extra-territorially.

Non-EU entities subject to the AI Act who provide GPAI systems must appoint an EU Representative.

The EU Data Act (Data Act)

EU Data Act came into force on the 12th of September 2025.

The Data Act creates rights for individuals and businesses to access the personal and non-personal data produced through their use of smart objects, machines and connected devices. Users of connected devices have the right to access and share data they generate with third parties.

The Data Act also imposes BTB and BTC data sharing obligations on SaaS suppliers to enable easy cloud service switching. SaaS suppliers cannot impose, and must remove, pre-commercial, commercial, technical, contractual, and other barriers that inhibit customers from terminating contracts, porting data and digital assets, and (where technically feasible) unbundling infrastructure services from other types of data processing services.

The Data Act sets out clear rules and standards for ensuring interoperability across key sectors.

The Data Act impacts data holders, manufacturers of connected products or related services, users, data recipients and third parties and data processing providers globally.

Users and data recipients (who can be consumers or businesses) must be located in the EU for the Data Act to apply.

Switching Provisions

SaaS suppliers must now include mandatory contractual provisions in their SaaS agreements with customers to enable easy switching to a new SaaS provider. For example:

  • The customer’s right to terminate the SaaS agreement at any time, upon giving not more than 2 months notice;
  • Include a clear exit strategy;
  • Include clear cloud provider switching obligations;
  • Complete data export within 30 days of termination;
  • Guarantee deletion of exported data after 30 days;
  • All switching services must be provided free of charge from January 2027;
  • Data portability to be provided in standard formats. For example: ISO/IEC 19941:2017;
  • Publish security provisions; and
  • Promote interoperability.

The only exemptions to the above contractual provisions apply to services that are individually created specifically for a customer or services that are provided for testing purposes i.e. Beta services.

Each Member State must appoint competent authorities to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Data Act and those authorities will set penalties for non-compliance which should be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. This means that each EU Member State will impose different levels of fines for breaches.

Internet of Things (IoT) Provisions

Where SaaS providers use connected products to provide their services (e.g. connected cars, medical devices, smart home devices) and related services (e.g. apps that control these products) users of the connected services have the right to access data generated by them using these products and services.

  • Data holders must allow direct or indirect access to such data;
  • Users may instruct a data holder to make data available to a third party i.e. another service provider, for which a reasonable fee can usually be charged;
  • Third parties are prohibited from using the data to create directly competing products; and
  • Trade secrets of data holders can be protected.

Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover or 20m Euros, whichever is higher.

The Data Act applies extra-territorially.

Non-EU entities subject to the Data Act must appoint an EU Representative.

The UK Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA)

DUUA brings specific sections of this new UK law into force in stages.

The changes made to date amend the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (PECR) as set out below.

PECR changes and Data Protection Law changes now in effect

The definition of “call” and “communication” in PECR, now includes all calls made and all communications transmitted, irrespective of whether they reach their intended recipient.

  • This is relevant for PECR direct marketing rules, as now an infringement of PECR can occur even if the call or communication did not reach the intended recipient; and
  • This will increase the level of the fine imposed.

Consent under PECR is now no longer needed but only in relation to UK data to:

  • Set cookies or use similar technologies to collect statistical information about how an organisation’s online services with the aim of improving the services;
  • Permit charities to send marketing materials for fundraising or to promote their charitable work to permit UK located individuals who have previously expressed an interest in their charitable purposes.

For more details on the changes the UK Government has published and will continue to publish factsheets on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

PECR fines are now aligned with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR fines, and can be imposed up to 17.5 million GBP.

Future changes

The majority of the changes made to UK Data Protection Law by DUAA, are not yet in effect and will be brought into effect by secondary legislation by the UK Government. The future changes will cover:

  • DSAR response protocols;
  • new rules on the use of automated decision making (ADM);
  • Exemptions to the need for consent, when using personal data for scientific research;
  • Creating a definition of “recognised legitimate interests” – which disposes of the need to carry out a legitimate interest assessment where the processing is carried out for a recognised legitimate interest;
  • Changes to the purpose limitation and clarification of what “further processing” means;
  • Changes to the rules on UK data exports to new third countries;
  • Changes to complaints handling procedures; and
  • Changes to the role of the ICO.

In light of the above changes to UK data protection law, the European Commission has only extended the current UK adequacy decision for international data transfers to the 31st of December 2025 – to allow the EC to assess the impact of DUAA on data transfers.

Actions to Take Now

There are a lot of new EU and UK laws now in force, coming into force in stages or into force in the next 18 months that could affect SaaS Suppliers.

After considering the above summary, SaaS suppliers need to consider which of the above laws do, could, or may, apply to their products and services that they supply or the sectors in which they their business operates. This will depend upon numerous different factors for each law, such as:

  • The location of the SaaS supplier;
  • The location of customers, suppliers, data holders;
  • Whether services are provided BTB or BTC;
  • The global turnover of the SaaS supplier;
  • The sector in which the SaaS supplier operates;
  • The types of services being provided by the SaaS supplier;
  • The sector in which the SaaS customer operates;
  • Whether or not IoT services are provided; and
  • The specific EU country in which the SaaS supplier, its customers or the services are being made available.

Each of the above laws will need to be assessed separately to determine if, and how, they apply. SaaS suppliers need to take action now to ensure their compliance with the above laws, as there are no grace periods for non-compliance and SaaS customers may start to try to exercise their statutory termination rights, switching rights and rights to data.

Irene Bodle is an IT lawyer specialising in SaaS agreements, GDPR and cloud computing with over 15 years experience in the IT sector. If you require assistance with any SaaS or cloud computing contracts, GDPR or any other IT legal issues please contact me:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com

www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

SaaS Agreements – DORA – ICT Supplier Obligations

SaaS suppliers obligations under the Digital Operational Resilience Act,(“DORA”), (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on digital operational resilience for the EU financial sector), are effective from the 17th of January 2025. From this date DORA provisions must be included in contracts entered into between financial services entities subject to DORA and their third party providers of ICT Services. As SaaS suppliers are third party providers of digital and data services on an ongoing basis they will be third party providers of ICT services if their SaaS customers are regulated by DORA. Both the SaaS customer and the SaaS supplier must comply with their applicable mandatory obligations under DORA.

Which entities does DORA apply to?

DORA applies directly to:

  • Any SaaS customers regulated by DORA; and
  • SaaS suppliers who provide “critical” or “important” ICT services to such SaaS customers.

DORA applies indirectly to SaaS suppliers who provide ICT Services to a SaaS customer regulated by DORA, as the SaaS customer must include certain mandatory provisions in their SaaS agreement with the SaaS supplier, in order for the SaaS customer to comply with its DORA obligations.

Does DORA only apply to EU entities?

DORA applies to:

  • Financial services SaaS customers located in the EU;
  • Financial services SaaS customers located outside the EU where the non-EU parent company enters into a contract with a SaaS supplier for provision of ICT services to any group entities within the scope of DORA (i.e. a global or master services agreement).

Penalties for breaches of DORA

Supervisory authorities can impose fines of up to 2% of global annual turnover for breaches of DORA. Local EU authorities can impose personal fines on the senior management and board members of a regulated entity of up to 1 million Euros.

Mandatory contractual terms

Article 30 of DORA sets out the mandatory contractual provisions that must be included in any SaaS agreement with a SaaS suppler who provides ICT services to a DORA regulated SaaS customer.

For all SaaS suppliers

Article 30(2)(a) – (i) of DORA set out the provisions applicable to all SaaS suppliers. These include:

  • An ICT services description;
  • Sub-contracting consents;
  • Services and data location information;
  • Data availability, integrity and data protection obligations;
  • Access to data;
  • Provision of free assistance if an ICT incident occurs;
  • Obligations to fully co-operate with appropriate regulators of the SaaS customer;
  • Specific termination rights;
  • Obligation to participate in the SaaS customer’s ICT security awareness programmes and digital operational resilience training.

For SaaS suppliers providing “critical or “important” ICT services

Article 30(3)(a) – (h) of DORA set out the additional provisions applicable to SaaS suppliers who provide “critical or “important” ICT services. These include :

  • Full service level descriptions;
  • Notice and reporting obligations;
  • Provision of business contingency plans;
  • Granting penetration testing rights;
  • Monitoring of SaaS supplier’s performance;
  • Unrestricted SaaS customer audit rights;
  • Comprehensive documented and tested exit arrangements, including provision of transitional and migration services.

How to assess DORA compliance

If you are a SaaS supplier who provides ICT services to any financial services SaaS customers regulated by DORA, you need to:

  • Check your existing customers to identify any financial services SaaS customers you provide ICT services to, who are regulated by DORA;
  • Identify whether or not your provide any “critical” or “important” services to such SaaS customers;
  • Amend the terms of your existing SaaS agreements with these SaaS customers, where you provide “critical” or “important” ICT services; and
  • When requested by a SaaS supplier to add any DORA amendments to a SaaS agreement, check that your new obligations are restricted to your mandatory requirements as a third party provider of ICT services as set out in Article 30 of DORA.

Irene Bodle is an IT lawyer specialising in SaaS agreements, GDPR and cloud computing with over 15 years experience in the IT sector. If you require assistance with any SaaS or cloud computing contracts, GDPR or any other IT legal issues please contact me:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com

www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

Website Legal Requirements – Tweeting – 5 Legal Offences to Avoid

There have recently been a number of high profile cases on liability for the sending of inappropriate tweets in the UK and the USA.

As tweeting becomes more and more the norm for many businesses it is important to consider the legal consequences of staff sending inappropriate tweets. Before allowing, permitting or encouraging staff to start tweeting on your behalf or with your brand you should consider creating a tweeting policy. This should set out guidelines on what is, and what is not permitted. It should also state whether any approval needs to be obtained before tweets are sent. Staff should be made aware of this policy and agree to comply with it.

Below is a brief summary of 5 possible offences that you should specifically cover in your tweeting policy.

Misrepresentation

Tweets containing false information that might induce another person to act on it.

Harassment

Tweeting words that cause ‘alarm’ or ‘distress’.

Malicious Tweets

Being “reckless” with the truth or sending false information in tweets for the purpose of damaging another’s commercial interests.

Defamatory Comments

Tweeting information that damages a person’s reputation unless you can prove that the information is a truthful, honest opinion.

Menacing Tweets

Tweeting content that is grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing.

Penalties for Tweeting Offences

If a court in the UK finds you liable for any of the above offences you could be:

  • fined;
  • imprisoned for up to 2 years;
  • liable to pay damages for losses suffered;
  • liable to pay compensation for causing distress;
  • sued for libel and face an order for damages and costs.

It is therefore important that you consider whether there is a business need to protect yourself and your business from such potential “tweeting” claims.

Help

Irene Bodle is an IT lawyer specialising in SaaS agreements with over 10 years experience in the IT sector. If you require assistance with any SaaS, ASP, software on demand contracts or any other IT legal issues contact me:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com
www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

______________________________________________________

Other related articles:

Website Legal Requirements – Contact and Company Information

Does your website comply with the legal requirements for providing contact information and company information in the UK?

Contact Information

The following contact information must be provided in an easily accessible position on your website:

  • an email address
  • telephone number
  • fax number (if you have one)

Increasingly companies do not provide an email address and/or telephone number to avoid receiving unwanted spam emails and telephone calls.

Instead many companies only allow customers to contact them by completing an online contact form. This may breach the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002.

Can I use a Contact Form?

The European Court of Justice has ruled that an electronic contact form complies with the E-commerce Directive, where the supplier answers queries sent by customers within a period of 30 to 60 minutes. However, if a customer requests a non-electronic means of communication from the supplier in the contact form i.e. a telephone number, the supplier must provide this.

How to Use a Contact Form Successfully

If you decide to use a contact form instead of giving a contact telephone number or email address ensure that you respond to e-mail queries from customers in a timely manner. You do not automatically need to provide a  contact telephone number, but you must be able to do so, should a customer request this.

Please note you must provide a contact email address on your website.

About Us Information

In addition to the above you are required to provide the following information on your website:

  • your legal name i.e. XYZ Ltd. If this is different from your trading name any differences should be explained.
  • your geographical address,  which must be the registered office if you are a company.
  • which country your business is registered in
  • the registration number of your company
  • details of any supervisory body which regulates your business i.e. the FSA. For regulated bodies more detailed information is required.
  • your VAT number
  • where you are registered for VAT
  • clear details of prices and whether or not delivery and/or tax is included

Help

To have your website reviewed for compliance with English law or for  queries about compliance with the contact and information requirements of the E-Commerce Directive please contact:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com
www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

______________________________________________________

Other related articles:

SaaS, ASP Agreements – Distributor or Agent – Is there a Difference?

To find prospects, leads and sell SaaS software to customers on a global basis outside of the countries in which the supplier is located, you will need to use a distributor or agent.

Suppliers need to decide whether the local partner acts as an agent or a distributor. There are important differences between agency and distribution and the advantages and/or disadvantages of both need to be carefully considered.

What is an Agent?

An agent is a person or company who acts on behalf of the SaaS supplier to find leads and/or assist with sales of the supplier’s SaaS software to local customers in the agent’s territory.  The agent has no legal relationship with the customer – the agent has no contract with the customer.  The supplier enters into a SaaS agreement, with the customer using the supplier’s terms and conditions and SLA.

Any implementation issues or software errors that the customer encounters during the course of the SaaS agreement will be the supplier’s problem. The supplier will be liable to the customer under the SaaS agreement and will be obliged to resolve all issues directly with the customer.

What is a Distributor?

A distributor is a person or company who enters into a distribution agreement with a supplier to purchase the supplier’s SaaS software and services. The SaaS software will be sold to the distributor pursuant to the supplier’s SaaS terms and conditions and SLA. The distributor then resells the SaaS software and services to its local customers in the territory using the distributor’s own terms and conditions and SLA. A reseller is the same as a distributor.

The supplier has no legal relationship with customers – the supplier has no contract with customers. The distributor sells the SaaS software directly to customers, as if it were his own software. Any implementation issues or software errors that the customer encounters during the course of the SaaS agreement will be the distributor’s problem. The distributor will be  liable to the customer and will be obliged to resolve such issues directly with the customer.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Agency Agreements

Advantages:

  • the local knowledge of the agent
  • established commercial contacts of the agent
  • the agent speaks the language in the territory
  • the agent understands the local selling culture and customer requirements
  • the supplier retains control over the sales process and the choice of customers
  • the supplier uses its own terms and conditions

Disadvantages:

  • the supplier must adapt its terms and conditions to comply with local law
  • terms and conditions must be in the local language
  • if the agent is located in the EU, the supplier must pay commission for up to a year after termination of the agency agreement (regardless of the reason for termination)
  • the supplier can be liable for paying tax in some territories – as he is deemed to be trading there

Advantages and Disadvantages of Distribution Agreements

Advantages:

  • the local knowledge of the distributor
  • established commercial contacts of the distributor
  • the distributor speaks the local language
  • the distributor can provide customer support in the local language and within the customer’s local business hours
  • the distributor understands the local selling culture and customer requirements
  • the distributor uses its own terms and conditions which are already in the local language and compliant with local laws and regulations
  • the supplier does not need to adapt its terms and conditions to comply with local law
  • the supplier does not have to pay any mandatory fees after termination of the distribution agreement
  • the distributor will be responsible for obtaining local licenses and permits

Disadvantages:

  • the distributor has no control over the sales process
  • the distributor has limited control over choice of customers
  • in the EU,  anti-competitive terms in the agreement can result in large fines, for example price fixing, prohibiting passive sales
  • the length of the agreement  cannot be unlimited if exclusive rights are granted
  • local competition law will also apply to agreements involving parties outside of the EU

Help

Irene Bodle is an IT lawyer specialising in SaaS distribution and agency agreements with over 10 years experience in the IT sector. If you require assistance with any agency or distribution agreement, SaaS agreement or any other IT legal issue contact me:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com
www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

______________________________________________________

Other related articles:

Cloud Computing and the Legal Cloud

Everyone is talking about “cloud computing” but what is it?

What is Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a new and rapidly expanding delivery model, often used to supply IT services to customers via the Internet. Cloud computing involves the sharing of resources, software and information on the Internet for users to use on their computers and other devices, on-demand.

Other Related Terms

Where software is supplied using the cloud you will hear people refer to SaaS, software as a service, ASP services and software on demand to describe the provision of the services.

Why refer to a “cloud”

The term “cloud” is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet. Typical cloud computing providers deliver business software applications online which are accessed from another web service or software i.e. a web browser while the software and customer data are stored on servers, hosted by the service provider.

The Legal Cloud

Most cloud computing infrastructures consists of services delivered through hosting centres. The service provided to users are usually set out in a service level agreement (SLA) and the software licence for use of the services and software will be set out in a SaaS agreement.

Help

For assistance with cloud computing matters, SaaS, ASP, software on demand contracts or any other IT legal issues contact:

irene.bodle@bodlelaw.com
www.bodlelaw.com

To register for my newsletter click here

______________________________________________________

Other related articles: