Posts by Kristie Prinz
Why Big Development Projects Can Equal Big Legal Headaches without Well-Drafted Agreements
If your company has just landed a big development project for a third party, do not underestimate the importance of the agreement in protecting the revenue stream you are being offered in exchange for your development services. The typical development agreement requires lump sum payments in installments throughout the term of the relationship. Also, the…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog Sponsor Announces New “Subscription Model” Option for Legal Clients
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog Sponsor, The Prinz Law Office, has announced today the launch of a new option for clients: the “subscription model” billing model. The firm will initially be offering daily and half-daily subscription models. The model is anticipated to potentially be a good fit with companies having ongoing legal review or advice…
Read MoreTop Mistakes Made in Software Deals without the Representation of Experienced Software Counsel
Updated 6.21.24 I was recently asked for a list of the top mistakes the average company will make when they enter into a software deal without getting an experienced software lawyer involved early in the negotiations. I thought it was an excellent question, so I wanted to share my thoughts on the issue with this…
Read MoreTechnology and Telecommunication Companies Lobby Congress to Adopt Federal Privacy Bill to Pre-empt California Data Privacy Law
USA Today is reporting that multiple technology and telecommunication companies are lobbying Congress to pass federal privacy legislation that would pre-empt the new privacy law recently passed in California which grants sweeping protections to consumers. In particular, USA Today reports that Amazon, AT&T, Apple, Google, Twitter and Charter Communications are leading the lobbying effort and…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Present Webinar on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog Author Kristie Prinz will be presenting a webinar on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests” for Clear Law Institute on 10/26/18 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Clear Law Institute is providing a registration discount for attendees who register with the discount code: KP119433. To register,…
Read MoreWhat SaaS Companies Need to Know About Source Code Escrow Agreements
Updated on 6.21.24 If your company is a SaaS business, you may come across a customer or prospective business partner who insists on the inclusion of a source code escrow agreement as part of the deal terms. If this scenario arises, you may be inclined to immediately agree to the prospective customer or business partner’s…
Read MoreIn Aftermath of GDPR, California Passes Consumer Privacy Act of 2018
After spending months preparing to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), software companies now have a new U.S. data privacy law to be concerned with. California has just passed a landmark data privacy law of its own: the Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. To view the text of the law, click…
Read MoreCalifornia Supreme Court Strikes Blow to Software Industry Reliance on Gig Workers
If your software company is relying on so-called “Gig workers” to provide a service managed by your app and software platform, then you need to know about a California Supreme Court ruling just issued this week, which is likely to severely limit your ability to rely on the “Gig worker” model going forward in the…
Read MoreCalifornia to Consider Bill that Restores Net Neutrality
The California legislature is considering a bill that would restore net neutrality on a state-wide level when the FCC repeal of net neutrality takes effect next week. The California net neutrality bill, SB 822, was written by State Senator Scott D. Wiener, D-San Francisco. The text of SB 822 is attached here. According to the…
Read MoreIrish Court Has Referred Case to European Court Which Challenges Privacy Shield: Will the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework Withstand Scrutiny by the European High Court?
If your software company has pursued Privacy Shield certification or is contemplating pursuit of certification, then you should know that an Irish Court has referred a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which could potentially invalidate the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield as it previously did with the Privacy Shield predecessor, Safe Harbor,…
Read MoreDrafting Software Hosting Agreements for ASPs and SaaS Hosting
I recently presented for myLawCLE on the topic of drafting software hosting agreements. I am pleased to now be able to share a recording of the full, two-hour presentation with interested Software Law Blog readers:
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Speak on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog Author Kristie Prinz will be presenting a webinar on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests” on June 11, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. The program will be sponsored by Virginia-based Clear Law Institute. To register for the event, sign up at the Clear Law Institute…
Read MoreWhat Software Companies Need to Know about the EU General Data Protection Regulation
If your business is in the software industry and you are doing any business in Europe, you should be aware of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), as it will apply to your business when it goes into effect on May 25, 2018. You also may want to consider pursuing Privacy Shield certification before…
Read MoreSix Signs You Are Reviewing a Poorly Written Software Contract
I was recently asked how to recognize that a software contract is poorly written. Upon consideration, I’ve come up with six signs to watch for in order to identify a poorly written software contract. In my experience, the first sign of a poorly drafted contract is that contract completely confuses the software licensing and SaaS…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Speak on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz will be featured as a speaker on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests” for a webinar hosted by Arlington, Virginia-based Clear Law Institute on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 from 10-11:15 a.m. PST. The firm has published a press release on the event,…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Present Webinar on “Drafting Software Hosting Agreements: Service Availability, Performance, Data Security, and Other Key Provisions”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz will be featured as a speaker for the webinar “Drafting Software Hosting Agreements: Service Availability, Performance, Data Security, Other Key Provisions” for the Atlanta, Georgia-based Strafford on January 23, 2018. The firm has published a press release on the event, which is attached here. To register for the…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Speak on “Negotiating Software As a Service Contracts”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz will be presenting a webinar on “Negotiating Software As a Service Contracts” for Clear Law Institute on Wednesday, January 17th from 10-11:15 a.m. PST. The Prinz Law Office has published a press release on the event, which is attached here. To register, please sign up at the Clear…
Read MoreSoftware Contracts Lawyer Kristie Prinz to Speak at Webinar on “Drafting SaaS Contracts” Sponsored by The Prinz Law Office
SaaS attorney Kristie Prinz will be speaking at a webinar on “Best Practices for Drafting SaaS Contracts that Reduce the Customer Sales Cycle & Avoid Disputes” sponsored by The Prinz Law Office. The event will take place on October 26, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. PST. What you will learn in the webinar:…
Read MoreSaaS Agreements Lawyer Kristie Prinz to be featured speaker for “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” Webinar Hosted by Clear Law Institute
Silicon Valley Software Lawyer Kristie Prinz will be featured as a speaker for the webinar “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” for the Arlington, Virginia-based Clear Law Institute on Tuesday, September 12th from 12-1:15 p.m. PST. Clear Law Institute is making available a special promotional discount of 35% off to attendees who sign up via…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Present Webinar on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests”
Silicon Valley Software Law Blog Author Kristie Prinz will be co-presenting a webinar on “Negotiating SaaS Agreements: Drafting Key Contract Provisions, Protecting Customer and Vendor Interests” with Kelley Miller of Reed Smith on August 8, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. PST/1:00 p.m. EDT. To register for this webinar, please sign up at: https://www.straffordpub.com/products/negotiating-saas-agreements-drafting-key-contract-provisions-protecting-customer-and-vendor-interests-2017-08-08.
Read MoreBipartisan Bill Introduced in Senate that Seeks to Prevent Attacks on American Cyber-Networks
Democratic Senator Brain Schatz of Hawaii and Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have introduced the “Protecting Our Ability to Counter Hacking Act of 2017,” also known as the “PATCH Act of 2017” in the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, following the recent “WannaCry” ransomware attack, with the intention of requiring government…
Read MoreNegotiating the Purchase of SaaS Company Assets: Key Problems to Anticipate in any Deal
In light of the popularity of the SaaS model of doing business, it is not uncommon to come across deals in which one software company is buying a third party company’s SaaS assets. While there are many reasons to be wary of these types of deals, regardless of what side of the transaction you are…
Read MoreInvestigation Reportedly Launched by Department of Justice into Uber’s Use of “Greyball” Software
The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Uber’s use of the “Greyball” software program, following recent reports about the company’s use of this software to evade local law enforcement officials and regulators in new markets where the service was not yet permitted, according to Reuters. Reuters reports that Uber has received a subpoena…
Read MoreCommon Software Agreement Fee Drafting Problems and How to Fix Them
Updated 6.21.24 When a client sends me a software license agreement or SaaS agreement to review or update, I always make a priority of reviewing any terms in the contract involving fees and then carefully reviewing the website and any marketing materials or fee schedules to confirm that the fee terms in the contract clearly…
Read MoreInvitation to Join VCTaskforce at StartUpWorld 2017
My firm is very involved with VC Taskforce, and our big spring event is coming up this Thursday: StartUp World 2017. The event is being held this year at Pillsbury in Palo Alto, and we are pleased to have more than 25 investors participating, including but not limited to the following VC and angel firms:…
Read MoreDoes Your Customer Software License or SaaS Agreement Leave Your Software Company Vulnerable to a Legal Dispute Over Implementation?
If your software company is like most software companies these days, you likely set up a software interface and train your customers on how to use the product at the very beginning of the relationship. You probably even charge some sort of fee for these initial services that you provide. And the set-up process may…
Read MoreApple Implements App Store Affiliate Commission and Pricing Changes
If your software business makes available an app in the Apple App Store, then you will want to make note of several business changes that Apple has just recently announced. The first change is that Apple has reduced the App Store affiliate commission from 7% to 2.5%, as was reported by Tech Crunch. An affiliate…
Read MoreCould a Software Developer Whose Code is Used for Hacking Be Convicted of a Crime?
If you are a software developer and you develop code that hackers then use to commit crimes, then you may be a risk for criminal prosecution, as an Arkansas developer named Taylor Huddleston recently discovered according to an article published by The Daily Beast. According to The Daily Beast, Huddleston developed a remote administration tool…
Read MoreService Level Agreements: What is a Service-Level Agreement or “SLA” and When Do You Need One?
Updated 6.21.24 If you are in the software industry, you may have heard of a “service level agreement” or “SLA,” but do you really understand what a “service level agreement” actually is or when you might need one? What is an SLA? A “service level agreement” or “SLA” is a technical agreement that defines that…
Read MoreRecent Software Class Actions Provide Valuable Lesson on Why SaaS Contracts Should Be Drafted to Fit Company’s Business Model
When SaaS companies and start-ups first contact me, they are often doing so with the idea that there are a few really well SaaS template contracts circulating in the SaaS industry and they seeking the” right” attorney to provide that industry-standard template to them. Alternatively, they contact me telling me that they’ve already put together…
Read MoreRecent FTC Enforcement Actions Should Serve as Warning to Software Industry about Privacy Practices
If your software company is like most, you have probably spent little or no time contemplating what needs to be in your company’s privacy policy. In fact, what your company is currently calling its privacy policy was likely copied from a third party website years ago and never given much thought since. Meanwhile, your company…
Read MoreSaaS Contracts: Is Your SaaS Contract Extending Your Sales Cycle?
The average sales contract being signed by a SaaS company has nothing to do with the technology being sold and fails to include all of the key contract terms that need to be in a SaaS contract. Thus, not only does the poor nature of the contract complicate the process of signing up new customers…
Read MoreComplimentary Passes Available for “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms”
I have some remaining complimentary passes available for tomorrow’s panel presentation on “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms” hosted by Strafford Publications. If you would like to attend, please send me a request today at kp****@pr************.com and I’ll see if I can still reserve you a complimentary pass.
Read MoreUS Navy Responds to Copyright Infringement Suit Filed by Bitmanagement Software
Bitmanagement Software GmbH recently filed suit against the US Navy, alleging willful copyright infringement of its 3D virtual reality software “BS Contact Geo” and demanding $600 million in damages. A copy of the complaint has been posted by Business Insider at the attached link. Bitmanagement’s complaint alleges that the software license agreement entered into with the…
Read MoreTakeaways for Software Industry from New Study on Costs of Data Breach
If you are a cloud service provider or a software provider who offers maintenance services to enterprise-level companies, then your company has likely had occasion to negotiate indemnification clauses relating to data breaches. Moreover, your company has probably had to provide warranties around data security or employee bad acts that would provide some protections to…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Speak at Webinar on “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms”
The Prinz Law Office is pleased to announce that Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz will be speaking at an upcoming webinar on “Negotiating Service Level Agreement Key Terms” on December 21, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 PST. For more information about the webinar, please see the firm’s press release on the event…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz to Speak at Upcoming Webinar on “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts”
The Prinz Law Office is pleased to announce that Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s Kristie Prinz will be speaking at an upcoming webinar “Negotiating Software as a Service Contracts” on December 19, 2016 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. EST. For more information, please see the firm’s attached press release. Press Release on Clear Law Institute…
Read MoreDigital Rights Management Software and the Printer Hardware Business
HP reopened a new front in the controversy between the printer hardware business and digital rights management software when it reportedly downloaded digital rights management software to customer printers as a recent security update. Fortune reported that HP’s actions were first recognized by a Dutch printer cartridge vendor after some 1000 customers contacted the company…
Read MoreFTC Announces Approval of Final Order in Deceptive App Case Against Vulcan
The Federal Trade Commission has today announced the approval of its final order resolving its complaint against the San Francisco-based software company Vulcan on deceptive and misleading conduct allegations that Vulcan had purchased a browser extension game and replaced it with a program that caused the automatic installation of applications on the game users’ mobile…
Read MoreSilicon Valley Software Blog Author Kristie Prinz to Speak on Best Practices for Negotiating and Drafting Effective SaaS Customer Agreements
Are your SaaS customers really signing an agreement that is effective for your business? How do you even know if your SaaS company is working with a customer agreement that is sufficiently protecting your business? The Silicon Valley Software Law Blog’s author Kristie Prinz is presenting a webinar on June 13, 2016 at 10 a.m.…
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