ABSTRACT
While every software license agreement does not warrant a customized approach, it is important that software license agreements contain the essential terms that address relevant business issues. It is often the case that software licensing transactions are driven by a vendor’s software license agreement. Understanding that, in many cases, it makes sense to start with a vendor form of license agreement, this chapter discusses the language that your company should expect to see in its software license agreements. Short vendor forms are used by vendors in transactions that range from the simple to the complex and may require a small financial commitment or several million dollars. When reviewing, drafting, and negotiating software license agreements, it is essential that your company understand each provision of the vendor agreement, how it operate, what changes should be made to ensure that the provisions meet your company’s business requirements, and what additional provisions your company should propose adding to the software license agreement so that the result is an agreement that is balanced and meets your company’s needs.
