IT law
TRÖBER@ legal is your specialized IT contract law firm in North Rhine-Westphalia. We advise you comprehensively in all areas of drafting, designing, adapting, revising and negotiating IT contracts and - if necessary - also represent you in court. Based on 30 years of experience in IT law, we can draw on several hundred sample contracts and drafting options. The philosophy of our law firm includes continuous further training in specialized seminars. In the case of new approaches to IT project management, such as Scrum, we can always offer you the appropriate contract design. We understand that every case is unique. Our services are therefore tailored to your specific needs and objectives. We design your IT contracts and/or general terms and conditions individually according to your requirements and needs and are happy to advise you on this strategically, considering commercial aspects as an IT service provider or also as a customer.
How we work
Commercial Law Firm
As a commercial law firm, our primary concern is your business success. Our services are tailored to your needs, and we always recommend best practices This also means that not every IT contract has to meet the high-end requirements of e.g. DAX companies. Rather, the importance of the business behind the contract may suggest "smart" solutions, depending not least on project volume and liability risks. We see our consulting services as a team effort, in which we use our expertise to try to harmonize the legal aspects with the technical and business requirements of your project.
Consulting Services
Of course, we have "sample contracts in the drawer". However, these are only helpful if the essential parameters of the contract, the so-called "essentialia negotii", have been clarified beforehand. Our consulting approach is therefore empirical, in that we find out the essential key values from you via video conference, e-mail or - very "old school" - in person on site or on the phone. No contract is helpful if it does not take into account the actual contractual practice. In this context, industry-specific circumstances may also be important, such as fierce competition or high liability risks, e.g. during the implementation of an ERP project.
Preparation, revision and review of legal texts
Once the above questions have been clarified, we start drafting, reviewing or negotiating contracts - in close consultation with you. This applies to all IT contractual legal texts, whether individual contracts, framework agreements or classic general terms and conditions.
Contract negotiation assistance
Our assistance in negotiating your contracts with prospective counterparties protects your legal interests and ensures that contracts are fair, legally sound, and advantageous to you. Well-negotiated contracts prevent litigation. With our expertise in IT contract law and over 30 years of experience, we help you understand and classify the legal aspects of the contract, including potential risks. For larger projects, we thoroughly review the contract before negotiations begin to identify potential pitfalls, unclear clauses, or unfavorable terms using our proprietary Legal Contract Risk Management (LCRM) tool. This AI tool supports the analysis and evaluation of potential legal, technical, and financial risks, and provides a high-level overview in addition to detailed individual risk assessments. This allows us to inform you of potential consequences and propose solutions to minimize these risks.
IT Project Support
Even after the contract is signed, we are here to help you implement the IT contract or IT project. In the course of implementation, changes or extensions to the originally agreed service content often occur. In this case, we can help you analyze the legal implications, ensure compliance with agreed-upon contractual processes (e.g., change request clauses), and propose and negotiate appropriate contract modifications with your contractual partners. If disputes or disagreements arise during the project, we can represent you in negotiations with your counterparties and help you resolve conflicts to minimize legal risk and bring the project to a successful conclusion.
Training Couses
An IT contract is only as good as its execution. That is why our consulting services include training for the relevant stakeholders and your employees involved in the project. The focus is often on raising awareness of contractually agreed processes. For example, this could be the demand for your customer's cooperation obligations or the formal request for acceptance into the IT project. For IT service providers, we also offer general training to identify and avoid recurring legal risks in IT contract management, or to respond appropriately when they occur.
Representation
Although in most cases our preliminary advice on IT representation will help to avoid litigation in court, we will also represent you in court if the case arises. Temporary injunctions: Our law firm can assist you in obtaining preliminary injunctions, i.e. quick and effective measures to enforce or prevent legal infringements (e.g. copyright or competition violations). We analyze the situation with you and help you to enforce a preliminary injunction in court or to defend against an unjustified injunction. Our clients appreciate the direct line to us, which in particularly urgent cases may be outside business hours.
Legal Contract Risk Managment (LCRM)
When advising on contract negotiations, we use Legal Contract Risk Management (LCRM). This self-developed legal-tech tool enables us to provide you, as our client, with a clear evaluation of the clauses contained in the contract. This helps you to quickly determine the points on which you should still seek dialogue with the negotiating parties and where negotiations are hardly worthwhile from a legal point of view.
Our Expertise
General Terms and Conditions for IT Contracts
General Terms and Conditions (GTC) for IT contracts tailored to your company are the focus of our consulting practice. GTCs are legal documents that govern the contractual terms and conditions between your company and your customers or business partners. In doing so, we take into account the respective contract items. For example, the T&Cs can be formulated as "Purchase T&Cs" or as "Sales T&Cs". As a rule, the goal is to optimize the legal positions for the regular business as far as possible within the scope of the power of disposition (deviation from the legal consequences, GTC firmness). With our GTC we ensure that your legal interests as an IT service provider or customer are protected in the best possible way by pre-formulating clear regulations on liability, warranty, intellectual property and other important aspects of IT services.
ASP contracts
Our team can assist you with the preparation of Application Service Providing (ASP) contracts, which are playing an increasingly important role in IT services. ASP contracts govern the provision and use of software applications and IT services over the Internet or another network (e.g., an intranet). We ensure that your ASP contracts are clear and legally compliant to define the rights and obligations of all parties and to allocate risk appropriately.
Content Provider Contracts:
We assist content providers in drafting agreements governing the provision of content, such as text, images or video. Our lawyers will ensure that your content provider agreement contains all of the necessary rights of use, compensation and liability provisions to adequately protect your content and establish clear terms and conditions for working with your customers or partners.
Database contracts:
Our law firm provides legal assistance in drafting database contracts. Databases play a critical role in e-commerce and need to be legally protected and regulated. We will ensure that your database agreements contain the necessary access rights, use restrictions and intellectual property provisions to effectively protect your databases and avoid potential disputes.
Research and development agreements
We assist companies in drafting research and development (R&D) agreements. These agreements can be critical in clearly defining the rights of use and ownership of new inventions, technologies or products that arise during an R&D effort. We ensure that these agreements adequately protect intellectual property rights and contain clear provisions regarding confidentiality and rights of use. The legal consequences of failure of an R&D project and the allocation of costs are often critical. There may also be corporate law issues that are often overlooked. For example, it may be questionable whether a partnership under civil law (GbR) in the form of an external or internal GbR is desired or whether this form of cooperation should be excluded altogether. Here, too, we support you in the preliminary stages as well as in the drafting of the corresponding R&D contracts.
Non-Disclosure agreements, NDA
Our Intellectual Property team can assist you in drafting or reviewing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). These legal documents ensure at the outset of business activity that confidential information exchanged during business relationships is kept secret and not disclosed without authorization. We draft customized NDAs as needed to protect your business interests and ensure the confidentiality of your sensitive information contractually.
IT project contracts
One of the firm's core competencies is the comprehensive advice, drafting and negotiation of legally sound IT project contracts. We focus on clearly defining the specific requirements and objectives of an IT project, establishing the rights and obligations of all parties involved, and minimizing potential risks. We ensure that your IT project contracts take into account all relevant legal aspects and provide a clear framework for the successful implementation of the project.
International Contracts:
Our law firm assists you in drafting international contracts, which are indispensable for cross-border business and transnational cooperation. If we lack the explicit legal knowledge of the respective international legal area, we cooperate with an international network of law firms under the umbrella of the European Lawyers Cooperation (EAK EWIV) and provide or arrange for competent legal advice on site.
Letters of Intent:
Letters of intent play a significant role in negotiations and preliminary agreements. The firm will assist you in drafting well-written Letters of Intent to clearly state the intent and key terms of a proposed business agreement. We ensure that your Letters of Intent provide a solid foundation for future contract negotiations and clarify potential points of contention.
Managed WAN Agreements:
Our firm can assist you in the design of managed wide area network services by drafting appropriate agreements. These agreements govern the provision and operation of WAN services that are essential to the efficient communication and networking of your company's locations. We ensure that your Managed WAN Agreements contain clearly defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and comprehensively cover the legal and technical aspects of the service.
Arbitration:
Our law firm represents companies in arbitration proceedings as an effective alternative to litigation to resolve disputes. We provide comprehensive legal advice and assistance in arbitration proceedings to defend your interests and achieve the best possible results. Our lawyers have extensive experience in domestic and international arbitration proceedings and are dedicated to enforcing your rights.
Service Level Agreements:
Our lawyers assist companies in drafting Service Level Agreements (SLAs), which are an essential component of service contracts. We ensure that your SLAs include clear and measurable performance indicators to define the quality and scope of services provided. With our SLAs, you can clearly communicate expectations and responsibilities for both your customers and your service providers and avoid potential conflicts.
Software Development Agreements:
Our firm assists companies in drafting software development agreements that govern the relationship between a contractor (developer) and a client (customer). We ensure that your software development agreements cover all important aspects, including the scope of work, intellectual property rights, delivery schedules, and payment terms. Our expertise in this area will help you deliver successful software projects with a clear legal framework.
Social Media Law
Our IT contracts team understands the unique legal issues surrounding Facebook and other social networking sites. We help companies develop legally compliant social media strategies that comply with applicable laws and social media terms of service. We can also advise on user content, privacy issues, and advertising on social media platforms.
Information requirements in eCommerce
Our lawyers can help you comply with the legal information requirements in e-commerce. This includes, for example, the obligation to provide an imprint, information on the right of withdrawal, and data protection declarations. We ensure that your website or online store complies with legal requirements to avoid warnings and legal consequences.
Online Shop
Our law firm offers comprehensive legal advice for online shops. We assist you in drafting and updating your terms and conditions, privacy policy, imprint and other legally relevant documents. In addition, we advise you on important issues such as the right of withdrawal, warranty and liability to make your online trading activities legally secure.
Web design contracts:
Our law firm assists web designers and agencies in drafting legally binding web design contracts. We make sure that your contracts contain clear terms and conditions regarding the provision of services, rights of use of the created pages.