As a SaaS supplier you may be ordered by a court as part of a litigation process to identify and disclose physical documents and electronically stored information (e-discovery). This creates problems for SaaS suppliers on a number of levels.
Continue readingCategory: SAAS
SaaS Agreements – Jurisdiction – Information made Available on the Internet
The Court of Appeal has asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to determine where publication takes place when information is made available via the internet in relation to a claim for breach of database rights in the UK.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – SLA – Error Fix Times
There are no standard fix times for remedying software errors, problems and bugs in a SaaS agreement. Fix times need to be tailored to the services being provided and should be set out in the service level agreement (SLA). The following factors need to be considered when SaaS suppliers establish fix times in their SaaS agreement.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – Data Protection – Binding Corporate Rules
What are Binding Corporate Rules?
BCR’s are a set of rules adopted within a particular company or corporate group that provide legally binding protections for data processing within the company or group to cover global data transfers.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – SLA – Service Credits
In order to limit your liability for the availability of the SaaS software that you provide to customers under a SaaS agreement you should consider whether or not to offer service credits in your SLA.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – SLA – Maintenance
From time to time you will need to carry out emergency maintenance to the SaaS software. You should therefore include an emergency maintenance section in your SLA so that you can install emergency patches and repairs on your servers. The maintenance section of your SLA should permit you to carry out emergency maintenance at any time and the obligation to provide the customer with prior notice should be on a best efforts basis.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – Data Protection – Further Fines by Data Commissioner
On the 8th of February 2011 Ealing and Hounslow Councils were fined £80,000 and £70,000 respectively by the Data Commissioner for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act (DPA) following the theft of two laptops from the house of an employee of Ealing Council.
Continue readingSaaS Agreement – Terms and Conditions – Limitation of Liability Invalid
Do you always ensure that your SaaS terms apply to contracts with customers. If not, the High Court has decided in Ghsp Inc v Ab Electronic Ltd that where two companies fail to agree on whose terms and conditions shall apply to an agreement, neither company’s terms can be enforced. This resulted in the supplier having unlimited liability to the customer for defective parts it had supplied.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – Sales Agents – Compensation Payable to Agents on Termination
If you use agents in relation to your SaaS agreements, when you terminate the agency agreement under the Commercial Agents Regulations 1993 you must pay the agent compensation, regardless of the reason for the termination.
Continue readingSaaS Agreements – Freedom of Information Act – Disclosure
Last week the Information Tribunal ordered a Government department to publish specific details of a major IT contract with Atos Origin, following an individual’s request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI). Pursuant to section 43 of the FOI, the Government body had refused to disclose the material requested on the basis that it was a trade secret and that disclosure would damage the commercial interests of the parties.
Continue reading