Client Testimonials
"Waterfront... has provided Xtrabass with clear and top quality guidance on all legal matters relating to software development, licensing and sales. Trying to find lawyers who specialize in I.T. that dont cost the earth, and work to such a high degree in a prompt and effective manner had caused us headaches and financial loss. Now we use Waterfront..., those times are gone. I would highly recommend that everyone who works in I.T. keep their details to hand"
Jethro Grassie, Director, Xtrabass Ltd
www.xtrabass.com (recently acquired by Creative Jar Ltd)
Licence Agreements
Whilst exploiting the revenue generating potential of your software is the domain of the commercial minds in your business, contracts are of primary importance to ensure that you maximise the revenue that you can achieve and minimise the risk to your business by doing so. When pricing your software you need to consider the following points (amongst others):
Is the licence exclusive to the end-user or non-exclusive?
Typically software companies would not grant exclusive licenses save in situations where they have done bespoke development work and have negotiated to retain the intellectual property rights in exchange for an exclusive licence.
Is the licence restricted to the individual/company/group who executes it?
Usually you would want to avoid any other entity using software pursuant to a licence granted to an end user. In this way you can charge another licence fee for it's use by someone else.
Is the licence limited by the number of seats/servers/territories etc? By agreeing a limitation up front, you are able to charge more money in the event that your customer wishes to increase the limitation that you've imposed on them.
You need to consider whether to price the software using a one-off licence fee, or an annual fee, or on a per user or use basis.
Your licence agreements need to protect your software whilst allowing you to exploit it to the full. More detail on protecting your software product can be found in Protecting IT whilst advice on pricing your software and related services is contained in a separate section in Exploiting IT.