Website Terms and Conditions, By Sutter Law a San Francisco and Silicon Valley Business Law Firm.
When it comes time for your San Francisco Startup Company to launch its product or service, it is crucial that there exists a robust Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the Company available on the Company website.
Think of your Terms of Service as your business contract with your customers.
Would you ship a CD with your software without a contract? Of course not, however, startup companies are notorious for overlooking this critical business contract.
Do you need an attorney to draft your terms? As a San Francisco Business Law Firm that reviews these Terms and Conditions, we would highly recommend having a professional business contracts attorney draft custom Terms to protect your company鈥檚 intellectual property.
For most people, the extent of interaction with a Company鈥檚 Terms of Service is to get annoyed whenever it pops up on the website, then scroll immediately to the bottom and click 鈥淚 Accept.鈥 聽We all do it.聽
The thing is, the contents of these documents will provide crucial protection to the Company as a multitude of users use the product or service, and filter through the Company website.聽
Obviously, your Startup can鈥檛 negotiate a user agreement with every single user, so the terms must be a one-size-fits-all agreement.聽 The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are legally binding agreements between the Company and the User.聽
The Company sets forth the terms under which it will allow the use of its service/product/website, and by clicking 鈥淎ccept鈥 or by merely using the service/product/website the User agrees to be bound by those terms.
Website Terms of Service
The Terms of Service is absolutely critical for limiting the Company鈥檚 liability and indemnifying the Company against claims. From a legal perspective, the Terms of Service will contain disclaimers, limits, and indemnifications that are both commonplace and specific to the particular model of the Company.聽
The vagaries of the Company鈥檚 function need to be adequately captured in the Terms of Service so that Users have a clear understanding of the parameters of their use, as well as repercussions for straying beyond the parameters.聽
The following questions will provide a drafting business attorney with a picture of the Company鈥檚 Terms of Service needs鈥
What kind of experience does the Company expect from the User?
- What policies do you wish for the User to adhere to?
- How can the User misuse/abuse the service/product?
- If the User pays the Company for service, what are the methods for payment, refunding, cancellation, and delivery?
- Are there liabilities particular to the Company service/product it wishes to protect against?
- Is there any special terminology particular to the Company service/product that needs to be defined?
- How are claims between the Company and User handled?
Important Terms within the Terms of Service. For the Terms of Service, it is important to include the following terms鈥
- By clicking an 鈥淎ccept鈥 button, or through her use of the Company, website, or product, the User agrees to be bound to the Terms of Service.
- The User grants the Startup Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferable license to use any content submitted by the User.
- All other content in the website, product, or service is protected intellectual property of the Company, or licensed to the Company by third parties.
- Inclusion of a link to the Startup Company鈥檚 Privacy Policy.
- Indemnification of the Startup Company by the User.
- Disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration.
Sutter Law has put together Terms of Service and Privacy Policies for many of San Francisco and Silicon Valley’s most successful Startup companies.聽
If you would like assistance with your Terms of Service (TOS) and Privacy Policy (PP) agreements, feel free to reach out to Sutter Law for a free consultation with an experienced San Francisco and Silicon Valley Business Law Attorney.
