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 readingTag: SaaS agreement
SaaS Agreements – Need for an NDA prior to signing a SaaS Agreement
Need for an NDA
If prospects do not sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or confidentiality agreement prior to a SaaS supplier disclosing it’s business secrets and confidential information, the prospect will have no duty to keep this information confidential. An NDA should therefore include some basic legal clauses to protect your business if you win the sale and more importantly, if you don’t.
SaaS, ASP Agreements – Liability for Website Content
SaaS suppliers must protect themselves in their SaaS agreement against a third party claiming compensation for breaches of their rights as a result of customers uploading illegal content onto the supplier hosted website. Service Providers and ISPs SaaS suppliers are service providers not internet service providers (ISP)s. SaaS suppliers publish content on the Internet on the websites they are hosting for customers. ISPs simply transmit information on behalf of customers i.e. telecommunications companies like AOL and BT and are acting as “mere conduits“. SaaS suppliers do not check content prior
Continue readingSaaS, ASP Agreements – Data Protection Issues with Sub-contractors – Standard Contractual Clauses
Using a sub-contractor to process your SaaS customer data is a problem under data protection law, where the sub-processor is based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Incorporating EU standard contractual clauses into your SaaS agreement is NOT the solution to this common problem. EU Standard Contractual Clauses Under data protection law personal data may only be transferred to countries outside of the EEA where there is adequate protection. In order to deal with the problem of transfers of personal data from a customer (data controller) in the EEA
Continue readingSaaS, ASP Agreement – SLA – Maintenance and Support Requirements
Duty to Acknowledge, Respond and Fix Errors
Clearly identify these three actions in the SLA. State when your duty to act starts. Does time for you to acknowledge, respond or fix a problem start to run upon receipt of a customer message, from your acknowledgement of the error, or some other trigger event?
Continue readingCloud based Software, Cloud based Technologies, Cloud based Services
If things go wrong, your data is lost and your customers start to move to your competitors – making a claim for breach of contract will not repair the damage already sustained to your finances and business reputation. These issues should be dealt with upfront, as part of the commercial negotiation process, with the assistance of an experienced specialist SaaS lawyer. Thereby your interests can be adequately covered to minimise the risks of the above scenario occurring.
Continue readingCloud Computing and the Legal Cloud
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.
Continue readingSaaS, ASP Agreements – Transfer of Personal Data outside of the EEA
There are no restrictions on transferring personal data within the EEA. However, due to the global nature of SaaS or ASP agreements personal data often needs to be transferred outside of the EEA, for example to an IT outsourcing provider in India, a subsidiary of your company in China or a data centre or software development centre in Vietnam.
Continue readingSaaS, ASP Agreements – FAQs – Disaster Recovery
What disaster recovery provisions need to be included in a SaaS agreement?
Continue readingSaaS, ASP Agreements – FAQs – Confidential Information
What confidentiality provisions need to be included in a SaaS agreement?Define Confidential Information.
Parties will obtain and have access to the business critical information of each other as a result of entering into a SaaS Agreement. For example, they may have access to customer lists, banking information, IPR, source code and object code or business secrets and processes. Confidential information should be defined in the SaaS agreement to make clear what is, and what is not, confidential. Do not simply refer to documents which are “marked as confidential” or “which should be treated as confidential”. Not all confidential information exists in a physical format, particularly in a SaaS scenario – so do not restrict your definition to just documents.