Terms of Business

Whether you supply complex software or basic widgets, or you buy components from other suppliers, it is crucial to have a good set of contract terms in order to manage your risk. As a supplier, you must ensure that:

  • You get paid promptly, and have good remedies, such as the right to recover goods or terminate the customer's licence, if you don't get paid
  • Your liability is limited to an acceptable level should any problem arise with what you have supplied
  • Any dispute is dealt with in your preferred forum
  • Your standard terms are actually incorporated into the contract with your customer, to the exclusion of any put forward by him.

Regular purchasers of goods, software or services can use standard Purchase Terms to ensure:

  • Prompt delivery, with appropriate remedies for failure
  • Adequate back-up in the event of defects
  • Liabilities to its own customers in respect of defective products can be passed back up the chain of supply to the source of the defect
  • As with a supplier, that disputes are dealt with in the preferred forum, and that the standard terms of purchase are part of the order contract to the exclusion of the supplier's terms of sale.

None of these is as easy to achieve as it sounds, as there are always technical legal issues to be considered. We have the solutions.

For further assistance, please contact Justin Ellis.