Software Agreements Line by Line. How to Understand & Change Software Licenses & Contracts to Fit Your Needs

4. Checklist of Key Issues

The following is a checklist of the key issues presented in this chapter:

• Confirm the vendor's support program satisfies the licensee's performance requirements (e.g., hours of support, call response times, testing of new releases, etc.).

• Draft the term of support to provide for an initial term and renewal terms, at the licensee's sole option.

• Fix support fees for the first several years of the agreement and cap fee increases in later years.

• Reject attempts by vendors to limit support calls to a "bank" of hours.

• Allow for sufficient time to implement new releases (e.g., six months from the release date).

• Limit the vendor's ability to include "tack" on support fees (e.g., charges for out-of-scope support calls, fees for onsite service to fix inherent bugs in the software, etc.)