4 ms·
Ask YC: What's your strategy for crafting a EULA/TOS?
What are you using for a TOS for your site? Are you working with a lawyer, and if so, how did you afford it?
I've talked to several lawfirms in and around Boston, as well as lawyers specialized in the specific area of our Startup, but they're almost all in the $300-400 per hour range.. To go over our documents and help us launch, we're looking at a $3500 legal cost, before we make a dime of revenue.
What Lawyers have you worked in the past, and how, by the love of god, did you afford them?
I understand that Lawyers often provide good relationships with VCs and Angels, but for a lot of it, it's grunt work.. We've put together our own drafts of everything, but we're worried about Gotchas.
Does anyone have any recommendations of people you've worked with? Is there anyone who might be better at fixing our drafts, rather than working from scratch?
How have you put together the TOS for your app? So many YC apps are Software As a Service and client-facing web sites, there's got to be a way you're doing it without blowing the budget.
- ivankirigin 19y agoJust use lorem ipsum. No one will notice :) I would just copy terms other sites use and invest in a more custom set when you have some money. I would prefix any legalese with some bold text "we're going to be fair and play nice" or something else so people aren't put off.
- e1ven 19y agoI think the GPL is a great example of how to be clear and specific, but to write a license that's intended to be read and understood by humans. That said, given the widespread confusion, perhaps it's better to have nasty legalease, which is prefaced by a friendly version, as you suggest.
- cperciva 19y agoI think the GPL is a great example of how to be clear and specific Is there a typo there? Or did you just describe the GPL as being clear and specific?
- dzohrob 19y agoapple-C, apple-V.
- e1ven 19y agoSome lawyer was paid quite a bit of money to write those, though- I certainly don't want him coming after us for copyright-infringement on his TOS.
- falsestprophet 19y agooutright theft
- cmars232 19y agoI'd make one myself, inspired by the TACOS at NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. I think that if you clearly and plainly communicate a TOS contract to your users, that is probably good enough to establish your intentions, should a legal issue arise at a later time. It's probably as good or better than an inaccessible bunch of boilerplate legalese copy-and-pasted at $300/hr., if only because the end user may actually read and understand it.