

Ask YC: What's your strategy for crafting a EULA/TOS? - e1ven

What are you using for a TOS for your site? Are you working with a lawyer, and if so, how did you afford it? <p>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.<p>What Lawyers have you worked in the past, and how, by the love of god, did you afford them?<p>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.<p>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? <p>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.
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ivankirigin
Just 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.

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e1ven
I 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.

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cperciva
_I 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?

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cmars232
I'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.

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falsestprophet
outright theft

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dzohrob
apple-C, apple-V.

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e1ven
Some 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.

