Customer Reviews

Software Agreements Line by Line: A Detailed Look at Software Contracts and Licenses & How to Change Them to Fit Your Needs

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having worked on hundreds of software contracts - from both a vendor and customer standpoint, I can honestly say this book would have made my life 100x easier throughout the years. I can not stress enough how valuable the content is in this book for anyone signing, or composing, a software contract. I guarantee this book will become "the industry standard" on the subject.

Pros: Must read for software managers

It is definitely one of the best descriptions for software agreement that I could find. I would rate the content at 5 stars.

Cons: The quality of the paper and the print is extremely low.

The book is about 120 pages printed on "yellow" paper with relatively small font. You have the feeling that the printer that printed the book was running out of ink. When you open the book it is difficult to read in the middle. It looks more like a novel than a computer book...

If you develop or evaluate RFPs, acquire software, or even are involved in contracting for services this book is an essential resource. I'll be frank about the readability - it's tough to plow through this book. The authors are terse and the writing style dense. However, when you consider a typical license agreement, contract terms and conditions and the stilted language associated with them, if you cannot deal with the writing style in this book you'll probably find contract and license evaluation ponderous as well.

I like the way this book presents information and advice by starting with a typical vendor agreement, then leading you through it, line-by-line as the title implies, and explaining the implications. It also shows how to modify each term or condition.

Another area I like is the chapter on software specifications and acceptance testing. I've worked with one client after another which licensed expensive software (in some cases to the tune of over a million dollars), or application services, without performing acceptance testing. The advice on this critical part of licensing is solid and should be carefully heeded. The chapter on maintenance and support covers another area that is too often overlooked in the acquisition process, and one that will almost certainly be important after the contract is signed. Again, carefully consider the advice in this chapter because it addresses a critical area. One final aspect of this book I like is Appendix A, which cross-references this book's chapters to vendor licensing provisions. This makes this book easy to use when evaluating licenses and contracts.

Take the time to read this book, then apply it to real world contracting and licensing and you will find yourself referring to it often.

This book does have a lot of great information in it both for an experienced software contract negotiator as well as a new software contract negotiator. The sections are easy to find so you don't need to read the entire book to find the information you need, for example information on software infringement. However, even though I read from the print reviews that the type is small and not easy to read, I do recommend you NOT order the digital version. You have to download special Adobe software to read it (not just Adobe reader which most people have anyway) and it will not allow you to print more that 5 pages EVER. So if you are like me and want to have a hard copy of a page to compare to a contract you are negotiating, you are out of luck. So content I would give a 4, but usability, a zero.

If you've been around software much you won't really learn alot of new facts or specific details of legal terminology but Overly does have some good suggestions for how to conduct negotation over specific contract areas - indeminification, support, adding additional users - that were very valuable.

For large firm buyers Overly has some interesting ideas about standardizing the contract process and developing enterprise-wide "best practices" for writing re-useable software agreements.

I found this book to be extremely useful when working on vedor agreements. The author breaks down the license agreement and provides reasoning on why certain terms should be changed as well as proposed language that is suitable. this book is a great tool when you find yourself on the procurement side of the fence.

This book is pretty expensive and seems to have promise from my reading of the first few chapters. However, at Chapter 1 the authors present a model agreement. There are various typos including improper use of defined terms where there is no definition provided (e.g., Charges, Services, Purchase Price, etc.), improper cross references (see article 12). These are mistakes even a new associate would not make so I am surprised they made it into this book. At such a high price I expected more care from the authors.

There are a number of reasons this book is an excellent resource for both the person who is just starting out reviewing software license and related agreements and those who have experience.

The first, and probably most important reason, is that it's clearly written. Although it has to contain legal terminology and jargon it doesn't contain unnecessary legalese and where it does it explains the concepts concisely and clearly.

It provides excellent examples in a before and after format so that's it is very clear what the author intends.

It contains checklists at the end of most of the sections so that, for both new and experienced reviewers, you can make sure you don't miss any of the important issues in the contract you're reviewing.

This is clearly a summary book and while you probably should read it cover to cover at least once, it's one of those books you should keep handy as a quick reference.

If you're just starting out reviewing software licenses I'd recommend this Line-by-Line book and a more comprehensive overview book Software Licensing Handbook, Second Edition. Both will provide the what, why, and how of software license reviews and negotiations.

I am a practicing attorney and I found this book extremely useful. Thanks to the authors for writing it.