← Back to workflows
Intellectual Property Licensing

Software License Agreement (SaaS)

Drafting comprehensive SaaS license agreements manually requires hours of research across multiple legal resources, careful attention to IP provisions, liability caps, and compliance requirements. Attorneys must balance client-specific terms with industry-standard clauses while ensuring all critical protections are included, making the process time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies.

Automation ROI

Time savings at a glance

Manual workflow8 hoursAverage time your team spends by hand
With CaseMark12 minutesDelivery time with CaseMark automation
EfficiencySave 33.8x time with CaseMark

The Problem

Drafting Software as a Service agreements requires balancing complex technical, commercial, and legal considerations including access rights, data protection, service levels, and subscription mechanics. Traditional drafting takes 6-10 hours and requires deep expertise in technology licensing, cloud computing models, and data privacy regulations.

The CaseMark Solution

CaseMark generates complete, commercially balanced SaaS license agreements tailored to your deal terms. The AI analyzes your uploaded documents to incorporate specific pricing, service levels, and technical requirements, producing a comprehensive agreement covering licensing, IP rights, data protection, warranties, and all essential provisions.

Key benefits

How CaseMark automations transform your workflow

Generate complete 12-section SaaS agreements in under 10 minutes versus 4+ hours manually

Automatically include industry-standard IP protections, liability limitations, and compliance clauses

Pull verified legal language from authoritative sources like LegalZoom, Nolo, and bar associations

Ensure consistency across all client agreements with standardized definitions and provisions

Customize subscription terms, payment structures, and jurisdiction-specific requirements effortlessly

What you'll receive

Parties and Recitals
Definitions
Grant of License
Fees and Payment
Term and Termination
Intellectual Property Rights
Confidentiality
Warranties and Disclaimers
Limitation of Liability
Indemnification
Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
Miscellaneous Provisions

Document requirements

Required

  • Deal Terms or Term Sheet

Optional

  • Party Information
  • Technical Specifications
  • Service Level Requirements
  • Data Processing Requirements
  • Prior Correspondence

Perfect for

Technology and software licensing attorneys
In-house counsel at SaaS companies
Corporate attorneys negotiating software subscriptions
Transactional lawyers in technology practice groups
General counsel at technology startups
Contract managers at enterprise software companies

Also useful for

This workflow is applicable across multiple practice areas and use cases

General transactional attorneys across practice areas need to draft and negotiate SaaS agreements as standard commercial contracts for clients procuring or providing cloud-based software services.

SaaS agreements are ubiquitous commercial transactions that transactional lawyers encounter regularly, requiring efficient drafting tools for subscription terms, payment structures, and standard contractual protections.

Corporate General85% relevant

Corporate attorneys regularly negotiate and draft SaaS agreements when companies procure cloud-based software solutions or when technology companies license their software products to enterprise clients.

SaaS agreements are fundamental commercial contracts for modern businesses, requiring corporate counsel to handle subscription terms, liability provisions, and IP protections across vendor relationships and product offerings.

Privacy attorneys must ensure SaaS agreements include proper data processing terms, security obligations, and compliance provisions for GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection regulations.

SaaS agreements inherently involve data processing and storage, requiring specialized privacy counsel to draft and review data protection clauses, breach notification terms, and regulatory compliance provisions.

VC and PE attorneys need to review and draft SaaS agreements when conducting due diligence on software companies or when portfolio companies require standardized licensing frameworks for revenue generation.

Investment firms regularly evaluate SaaS revenue models and customer contracts during deal analysis, and portfolio companies need robust licensing agreements to scale their subscription-based business models.

Frequently asked questions

Q

How is a SaaS license agreement different from a traditional software license?

A

SaaS agreements grant access rights to remotely hosted software rather than transferring copies for local installation. They create ongoing service relationships with subscription-based pricing, continuous updates, and provider-maintained infrastructure, whereas traditional licenses typically involve perpetual ownership of specific software versions. SaaS agreements must address data custody, service availability, and the interdependencies between payment, access, and support that don't exist in perpetual license models.

Q

What are the most important provisions in a SaaS agreement?

A

Critical provisions include the license grant defining scope and restrictions, subscription fees and payment terms, service level commitments with uptime guarantees, data ownership and protection obligations, intellectual property rights, warranties and disclaimers, limitation of liability, and termination rights with data retrieval procedures. The agreement must also address confidentiality, security requirements, and compliance obligations specific to the software's function and the customer's industry.

Q

How should service level agreements be structured in SaaS contracts?

A

Effective SLAs define availability as a percentage (typically 99.5%-99.9%) measured over a specific period, specify how downtime is measured and what exclusions apply, and establish service credits as the exclusive remedy for failures. They should exclude scheduled maintenance, force majeure events, and customer-caused issues from availability calculations. The SLA should also address support response times based on issue severity and clarify what support includes and excludes.

Q

Who owns customer data in a SaaS agreement?

A

The customer retains ownership of all data it uploads to or generates through the software. The provider receives only a limited license to use, host, and process customer data as necessary to deliver the services and comply with legal obligations. The agreement should specify data retrieval rights upon termination, deletion obligations after a retention period, and security measures the provider must implement to protect customer data from unauthorized access or disclosure.

Q

How long does CaseMark take to generate a SaaS license agreement?

A

CaseMark generates a comprehensive, customized SaaS license agreement in approximately 10-15 minutes after you upload your deal terms and other relevant documents. The AI analyzes your specific requirements and produces a complete agreement with all necessary provisions tailored to your transaction, compared to the 6-10 hours typically required for manual drafting by an experienced attorney.