If you sell software that customers download, you must have an online license agreement defining the relationship or risk the customers doing unintended things with your program.

What is an online software license agreement? It is a digital contract that consumers sign with an "I Agree" click before they are allowed to download the software in question. If they refuse to do so, they do not get the software. In turn, you then need to keep an electronic record of who agreed and who didn't. 

What does an online software license cover? It depends on the nature of the software. Generally, the issues covered are the fees, warranty provisions, disclaimer of implied warranties, limitation of damage claims, jurisdiction restrictions, the limitations of use, prohibitions against reverse engineering and so on. This may sound like dry stuff, but it is critical to protecting the intellectual property right surrounding your software and providing a foundation from which you can prosecute those who try to rip you off. 

The last thing you might be thinking of when you develop a piece of software is a license agreement. Well, you need to think it through. A license agreement lets you define how that software will be used. If you don't define that relationship, then the person who downloads it can either use it in an unintended method or reengineer it to do something that you never intended. 

What if you are handing out free software? Do you need a license agreement then? Absolutely. Common issues you are going to want to address are people reselling your software under another name, reverse engineering, cutting out and reusing sections of the code and so on. The software license agreement is your opportunity to define the use of the program, so make sure to take advantage of it. 

If you are distributing software online, a software license agreement is a critical part of your legal portfolio. Contact me at 619-637-6043 today to learn more.

Richard A. Chapo, Esq.

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