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3 Must-Have Legal Documents for Your App

Thousands of applications are being released on different app stores every single day. Are you currently working on an innovative software you’d like to show to the world very soon? If that’s the case, have you thought about the legal aspects of releasing your new app (yes, I’m talking about those documents everyone agrees to without really reading them, but that are very necessary). Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here are 3 must-have legal documents for your new application or software.

Of course, please take this as legal information and not legal advice. If you have any questions regarding the legal aspects of creating an app or new software, send me an email at info@artylaw.ca.

 

#1 Terms and conditions

Terms and conditions set the ground rules for the use of your software/app and the website on which they will find your software. These terms allow you to limit your liability, set criteria for the termination of certain accounts (following abusive behaviors, for instance), select the governing law and dispute resolution options, and more. They will also allow you to inform users of their rights and obligations.

 

#2 Privacy policy

A privacy policy is a document that allows you to divulgate to your user, amongst other things, what personal data is being collected, when and why it’s being collected, as well as who this data can be transmitted to. If you collect personal data about your users, whether that would be information regarding financial transactions or your users’ location, having a clear privacy policy is mandatory. Some third-party apps such as Google Analytics also require you to provide your users with a good privacy policy if you want to keep using their services, so this is definitely not a document you want to skip on.

 

#3 End user licensing agreement

An end user licensing agreement (more commonly called the EULA) is the contract that allows your users to use your intellectual property (in this case, your software or app), while still retaining it. This is the document where you’ll usually tell your users what they can’t do with your app (reverse engineering it, for instance) and where you’ll want to delimit the scope of the app’s use. If you plan on putting your app on a mobile store such as the iOS App Store, you will be provided with a standard EULA if you don’t have your own, but I do suggest getting a customized EULA as mobile store’s EULAs do not cover everything and are not necessarily adapted to the particularities of your software.

 

If you have any additional legal questions you would like to ask me regarding apps and software, do not hesitate to send an email at info@artylaw.ca or click on the link below to schedule an initial consultation.

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