As in, just in case one of us gets forced out of our own
company by some
SOB, lets put all the implicit stuff in
writing with all the necessary legal
incantations to bind
our successors, heirs, assigns, bankruptcy judges,
corporate
raiders etc. just in case one of us falls victim to such an
unpleasant event.
And make it mutual so you also write down lots of
promises the other way, even silly little ones, just to
convince both the
other party and any later judge/jury that
this is truly mutual and not slanted
to one side.
Done right this might even grease the negotiations as it
allows you to give the other side lots of things that won't
cost you a dime
unless you go insane.
This should not be confused with giving the other
side
automatic penalties such as forfeiture clauses, statutory
damages or late
fees. The idea is to give them benefits
that won't cost you.
Such as
"unlimited internal use copies" of the product
they will be reselling. Or
"unlimited backup copies" in
place of the silly "one backup copy or one install
on hard
drive" clause still found in EULAs that date back to early
PCs where
the hard drive was an optional alternative to the
"working diskette" that was
copied from the original when
its predecessor was physically worn out. To you
it costs
nothing as there is nothing to do and you wouldn't demand
payment for
genuine backup copies, to them it is one less
thing your crazy "successor in
interest" could sue them
over.
Even one-sided EULAs sometimes contain
such clauses to
sweeten the deal such as the clauses that state that they
don't claim copyright to your contributions, but only
request a non-exclusive
license to do certain things.
Put in a different way turn it into brazen
flattery.
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