Negotiating cloud contracts

Looking At Clouds From Both Sides Now

By W. Kuan Hon, Christopher Millard & Ian Walden

This article, drawing on sources including interviews with cloud computing providers, users and other market actors, is the first in-depth research into how cloud contracts are negotiated.

In particular, we have focused on instances where users have requested changes to providers’ standard terms, and the extent to which providers agreed to those changes.

We have found that the terms that generated the most negotiation were provider liability, service level agreements, data protection and security, termination rights, unilateral amendments to service features, and intellectual property rights.

Changes to providers’ standard terms are likely to filter down from large deals where users have negotiated amendments, and filter up from regulatory action affecting the consumer market.

This article suggests a multiplicity of approaches are emerging, rather than a de facto ‘cloud’ model, with market participants developing a range of cloud services with different contractual terms, priced at different levels, and embracing standards and certifications that aid legal certainty and compliance, particularly for small and medium sized businesses.

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This Article was written as part of the QMUL Cloud Legal Project at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London.

Vendor:: TechTarget ComputerWeekly.com
Posted:: Feb 8, 2021
Published:: Jan 24, 2013
Format:: PDF
Type:: Essential Guide

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