NIPC Law

Fibre Optic Cables Author BigRiz   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Jane Lambert The key to a successful software development contract is a comprehensive and accurate technical specification that is agreed upon and understood by both the customer and the supplier.  It is important not to confuse a technical specification with a functional specification.   The functional specification will set out the functions and facilities that the software should have, but not state how it is to be developed.   Those details will be contained in the technical specification.    The customer should satisfy himself or herself that the technical specification implements the functional specification.   If he or she lacks the skill and knowledge to do that, he or she may wish to appoint a consultant to help. Acceptance Tests As the bargain is that the supplier will deliver the specified software in return for a fee, a clause setting out the ac...

In my early years at the Bar I did a lot of work for John Morris who was in-house legal advisor to the NCC (National Computing Centre).  The NCC had been established in 1966 as an autonomous not-for-profit organization, to be the "voice of the computer user",  encourage the use of computers in the UK and  offer education and training in computers. John spotted an opportunity for his company. He saw a need for source code escrow and persuaded his employers to offer one of the first escrow services in the UK. Escrow is an arrangement by which a software house or software maintenance contractor deposits the latest version of a computer program in human readable form known as "the source code" to a trusted third party such as the NCC ("the escrow agent") with instructions to release the source code to the customer should the software house or maintenance contractor be unable or unwilling to maintain the program because of insolvency or some other ca...