Clients include businesses across the sector including;

• major infrastructure suppliers
• software houses
• consultant programmers
• web design and hosting companies
• e-tailers of goods and services.

Software Licensing and Development

As a programmer or software developer, you need to ensure that your Intellectual Property is protected and exploited in the best way for you.  If you produce work for other businesses your coding may belong to them, even though you wish to later use part of it in a different and unconnected application.   Proper licensing will enable you to retain those rights whilst still giving your customer what they need.

If you have a software product to license to your own customers, we can guide you through the options for getting that product to market including re-seller arrangements. We also produce easy to understand licence documentation either for shrink-wrapped products, or for specific clients.

We act for several software houses and in conjunction with our Intellectual Property team can provide detailed support for the best licensing results.

Systems Development Contracts

In addition to the key software licensing elements, to keep a project for a large bespoke system on track and on budget, the contract needs to contain strong project management provisions to ensure milestones are achieved, and that performance is measurable.  The specification is also very important and needs to be set within parameters which satisfy both parties.

As a purchaser you may want to stage payments on successful completion of those milestones, with control over acceptance procedures, to ensure that you have an end product which works.  You will want coding held in escrow so that your bespoke system can continue to be supported if your supplier ceases to trade.  As a supplier, you need to ensure that you get all the information that you need from the client when required, that you are not subject to changes in specification which require additional work you cannot charge for or which delay milestone achievement, and that you are paid promptly.

We have extensive experience in advising both developers and purchasers of bespoke and large scale IT systems, including back-office systems in retail, e-commerce and the service sector.

Support, Maintenance & Disaster Recovery Contracts

Who will look after your IT systems and fix any faults that your in-house team are unable to resolve?  What sort of turn around time and level of help do you need?  Do you need support to integrate the supported system with new software or kit that you may later buy? As a service provider, how can you ensure that you are able to make the service profitable without being at the customer’s 24 hour beck and call and subject to unreasonable demands?  A proper support and maintenance agreement should protect your position, and ensure that both sides get and give what is expected from them

In a catastrophic event, in which your premises and server were destroyed or put out of action for a period of time, how would your business survive?  Disaster Recovery can take many forms from simply having your data servers backed up to a secure remote location, to being provided with new office facilities and all your IT systems and data being secured, allowing you to seamlessly continue trading.

The small-print in such arrangements may catch you out when you least need it, though.  Are you sharing your facility with other businesses on a risk allocation basis, for example?  This may mean that several businesses are all clamouring for the same desks and servers, if the sharers all come from the same geographical location hit by a disaster.  We can help guide you through the pitfalls, and negotiate a level of cover which reflects a level of risk protection for your business with which you are comfortable.

IT & Telecommunications Infrastructure

Whether to connect your business to the outside world, or to link together your various offices on a secure wireless or local network, the IT infrastructure of your business is highly important and likely to be a key expenditure.

You need to ensure that your infrastructure will be put in place as and when you need it, that it will perform as you need it to, with the support levels you require, and that it is kept secure.

The advent of Voice Over Internet Protocol telephony as a highly cost-effective way to communicate, with its increasing effectiveness and security, particularly when used on secure networks, is an area which is increasingly attracting the attention of businesses.  We can help you negotiate terms which protect the quality and level of service you receive, and protect you from escalating charges.

We act for a major international supplier of networks, network security and related infrastructure services, and consequently have regular contact with the main players in the marketplace.

Website, e-mail and Smartphone App Legals

If your business is not trading online or via apps, legals will consist of a “terms of use”, which set out the basis on which people are allowed to view the website or app, covering matters like copyright protecting your content and anti-hacking provisions; and a privacy policy, which explains what you do with the personal information of viewers of the website, so as to comply with data protection law.

If your website or smartphone app is used for online trade, in addition to the terms of use and the privacy policy, it will require a terms of sale, which sets out the legal terms which apply to any transactions.  Where consumers are involved, these will have to comply with the relevant consumer contract, distance selling, and e-commerce regulations, including the correct cancellation and returns policy for customers within the EU.  The website or app will need to be configured so as incorporate those terms of sale properly into the transaction.  If you trade outside the EU there will be other issues to cover off, particularly in respect of customs levies and fraud.

We supply plain English suites of legals, bespoked to your business, for an agreed fixed fee.

E-Commerce

In addition to providing website legals, and advising on the correct website set-up, we are happy to advise on other matters which may arise in connection with trading online, in particular the proper compliance with the Distance Selling legislation, use of customer data, handling returns from the UK and abroad, and dealing with credit card companies claw-backs.

Fraud is a particular problem, particularly on international transactions with high value or prestige goods, and there are ways to minimise those risks which we can help you with.

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