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Pym's Technology Lawyers
Pym's Technology Lawyers

Software Business

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SOFTWARE LICENSING AND SUPPORT

In this section we discuss the issues that are relevant to the licensing of standard software products and their support.

The underlying assumption is that a software product has been created and is available for general sale to multiple customers.  If the circumstances are that you are creating a unique software program to meet a specific customer's need rather than creating a single product to generically meet a market requirement, then you should look at Pym's Technology Lawyers' content on the AIIA.biz website on Consulting and Development.

The business of selling and supporting software products can be a particularly profitable business.  The software provider will have invested significant amount of time and money in the research and development associated with developing a software product to meet a market need, or may have acquired the rights to distribute a third party's product from an organisation that has itself spent a considerable amount of time and money creating a generic product to meet a market's need.

WHY DO YOU NEED A SOFTWARE LICENCE AND SUPPORT AGREEMENT?

The way that software companies ensure that they get a return on their investment is to license the software product under a software licence agreement and provide support services in respect of those products to their customers.  A software licence is the contract which describes the customer's rights to use the supplier's software, allocates the risks associated with the supply and use of the software between the supplier and the customer, and provides a number of protections for both the supplier and the customer.

Without a software licence the supplier will:

  • take on many unmanaged risks;
  • have difficulty enforcing the payment arrangements;
  • have difficulty enforcing usage limitations, which define the price that is to be paid by the customer; and
  • have unlimited liability.

Please read through the detailed information contained in the sections below, then browse the online contract templates available to determine which of the contracts is the right one for you.

Next: the importance of Legal Protection for Software.

 
 
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