Don’t Grant Feedback Licenses or Assignments
Feedback licenses and assignments create a mess for the customer. And they’re not necessary for the vendor. Here’s a better clause.
IP Indemnity Exception: “Registered after the Effective Date”
Some intellectual property indemnities exclude claims about IP registered after the contract’s effective date. The tech provider argues that it shouldn’t be responsible for IP it didn’t know about when it created its product — or at least when it signed the contract. “If we couldn’t have known about that IP, it’s not our fault […]
Don’t Grant Feedback Licenses (Do this Instead)
Please click here for an updated version of this post. The feedback license appears in many tech contracts. It usually gives the vendor a broad, perpetual license to any “feedback” from the customer’s staff: any suggestion about the vendor’s products and services. Sometimes the clause goes further, assigning ownership of feedback to the vendor. (Click […]
Mistakes Triggered by the Many Meanings of “Intellectual Property”
By David W. Tollen Tech industry professionals use “intellectual property” to describe two different creatures. They also use “IP lawyer” for a broad list of professionals with little in common. Few recognize the many meanings of “intellectual property”, so the term creates a lot of confusion — and screws up lots of contracts and other legal […]
No One Can Own an Abstract Idea (So You Don’t Need a “Feedback License”)
Technology companies often worry about ownership of ideas they hear. If a contractor or partner gives us an idea, do we need a license to use it? What if it’s an idea about our own product or service? The concern often prompts a “feedback license”: a sentence or two tacked onto a contract about professional […]