Fieldfisher

This Practice Note identifies changes to foreign business-to-business contract terms typically required to ‘localise’ them for use in the UK under English law and, conversely, the terms that typically need to be reviewed if English law business-to-business contract terms are to be adapted for use in a different jurisdiction. In this context, it focuses on common commercial terms in IT contracts, general English law localisation issues, common law implied terms, statutory controls on contract terms and some common issues with English law doctrines and convention.

This Practice Note covers issues in a corporate transaction with which IT lawyers should be concerned, chiefly at the due diligence stage, but also at transition. Issues that may arise include whether the target has the necessary rights to the software and hardware, whether appropriate agreements are in place for networks and services such as the cloud or software as a service, and which warranties should be obtained.

This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It provides information on the position under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). It is for background information only.

This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It provides information on the position under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). It is for background information only.

This Practice Note examines the issues commonly arising on exit when an outsourcing arrangement comes to an end.

This Practice Note sets out the restrictions that a franchisor typically imposes on a franchisee in order to protect the franchisor’s business, including use of the franchisor’s confidential information, obligations not to compete with the franchisor’s business (restrictive covenants), no poaching provisions, severability and enforceability of restraints, and practical guidance on drafting restrictive covenants.

This Practice Note focuses on the key issues to consider when structuring service levels and remedies for failure to achieve these in outsourcing and other IT services contracts. When drafting service level agreements (SLAs), relevant considerations will include the type of service level(s), what to measure, cost and quality, outcomes and outputs, how service levels are measured, service credits and other remedies, earn back and performance bonuses and changes to service levels during the contract term. The specific measurements and metrics used in SLAs will depend on the type of IT services, eg hosting, data communications and hardware maintenance.

This Practice Note examines the key issues relating to the use of escrow arrangements for commercially sensitive materials relevant to software design (ie source code). It focuses on the reasons for source code escrow and provides specific guidance about escrow agreements, software as a service (SaaS), escrow agents and insolvency.

This Practice Note explains the key issues relevant to agreements governing IT systems development and systems integration projects. It suggests different ways of approaching systems integration and development projects and includes a checklist of key contract terms.

This Practice Note is an introduction to the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, which is more widely referred to as the GDPR and referred to in this Practice Note as the ‘EU GDPR’ to distinguish it from the UK GDPR. The Practice Note provides an overview of the conceptual changes and the changes in regulatory oversight and additional obligations for organisations which were implemented by the EU GDPR. The Practice Note concludes with suggestions on how organisations can plan EU GDPR compliance activities.

This Practice Note considers the principal matters a franchise agreement should address including clarity over the rights to be granted to the franchisee and the relevant territory, whether the franchise can be granted on an exclusive basis, ensuring full consideration is given to the sales targets and development plans, the licensing of intellectual property rights and availability of trade names and domain names. The Practice Note also highlights the importance of a well drafted manual and the key areas a manual should cover.

This Precedent franchise agreement—exclusive is for use when a franchisor wishes to appoint a franchisee to sell its goods or services in a particular territory on an exclusive basis. This Precedent is an exclusive franchise agreement meaning that the franchisor is restricted from appointing additional franchisees into the territory and is also restricted from operating in the territory itself. A franchise agreement is not a distributorship or agency; a franchisee (re)sells goods or services under a proven business method developed by the franchisor, and whose sales success is proven. The franchisee, like a distributor, is an independent trader who invests his own funds in the franchise. See also Franchise agreement—non-exclusive and Master franchise agreement.

This Precedent franchise agreement—non-exclusive is for use when a franchisor wishes to appoint a franchisee to sell its goods or services in a particular territory on an exclusive basis. This Precedent is a non-exclusive franchise agreement meaning that the franchisor is able to appoint additional franchisees into the territory and may also operate in the territory itself. A franchise agreement is not a distributorship or agency; a franchisee (re)sells goods or services under a proven business method developed by the franchisor, and whose sales success is proven. The franchisee, like a distributor, is an independent trader who invests his own funds in the franchise. See also Franchise agreement—exclusive and Master franchise agreement.

This Precedent master franchise agreement is for use when a franchisor appoints a master franchisee who will in turn appoint sub-franchisees to sell the franchisor’s goods in an identified territory. The appointment of the master franchisee by the franchisor is on an exclusive basis. The master franchisee will grant individual sub-franchises to selected sub-franchisees. The master franchisee and the sub-franchisees will sell goods or services under the business method developed by the franchisor, whose sale success is proven. See also Franchise agreement—exclusive and Franchise agreement—non-exclusive.

A template termination letter for a franchisor to use when terminating a franchise agreement with a franchisee.

This Checklist sets out the key terms in an IT services agreement. It includes the key terms that a customer should consider when contracting with a supplier for both implementation and operational IT services.

This Checklist is aimed primarily at customers (licensees) entering into agreements to license standard software. It is intended to give an overview of the key terms usually found in an agreement granting a software licence and highlights key issues to be covered when reviewing a supplier’s terms for the licence of commercially-available packaged software.