All companies are ‘tech companies.’
Rob Turner
Business Attorney and outside general counsel with InTown Legal; Of-Counsel with Blue Sky Law
Has a tech attorney advised your business about its hosting agreement and MSA?
I believe the title above has a lot of meaning with how technology affects a business’s legal matters. Businesses need attorneys that understand technology agreements and who can advise the business on negotiating an agreement with the service provider that meets the business’s needs.
With the digital revolution, all companies have (or should have!) some type of online presence. That online presence will include one or more contracts with the company that hosts your business’s website. Hosting agreements broadly fall into two types of agreements:
- Negotiated; and
- As-is click-wrap.
Depending on your company’s needs, an ‘as-is’ non-negotiable agreement may be perfectly acceptable. You will, however, need to set up appropriate calendar reminders to avoid issues with matters like auto-renewal provisions. Further, you will also need to understand any early termination fees associated with the service.
Other, more tailored web-based solutions, generally start with a master services agreement (“MSA”) from the service provider. The scope of the services addressed in MSA can include: cloud based services (public, private or hybrid), to disaster recovery and colocation of your business’s services in a providers data center. The key with those more custom services is for your business to understand many of the terms of the MSA are negotiable. This is where a tech attorney can add value. A tech attorney will also ensure your business’s interests are protected. The tech attorney will help you by actually reading the MSA and proposing changes to the MSA. Those revisions will be negotiated with the service provider. The difference with this approach is that your business can avoid the service provider’s typical response to laymen than this is a “standard contract” and they do not negotiate from it. The scope of negotiability will of course depend in part on the dollar amount of your business’s MSA.
Our team of attorneys have negotiated numerous MSAs on behalf of customers. We can help your company evaluate its next MSA.
Make it a great week!
RHT3
Rob Turner is a partner at 360 Venture Law (Shmalo Turner), LLP, an Atlanta-based law firm with deep technology experience. 360 Venture Law (Shmalo Turner), LLP serves businesses and individuals as their "on-demand legal department" in a range of business and commercial real estate matters. www.360vlaw.com
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Attorney solving business law and intellectual property issues, with solid experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
9 年Rob, this is outstanding advice. As a fellow technology attorney, I have often thought to myself over the past year that it's becoming sillier and sillier to say I am a "lawyer that represents technology clients," when nearly every company of any sort now has some exposure to technology law needs and risks. Glad to see you advising people that terms such as those you describe are open to negotiation despite the stonewalling a client will receive from a counterparty's sales team!