In today’s blog post, we highlight one of our self-paced courses available on-demand, and David Tollen’s publications, about intellectual property (IP) terms in contracts.
On-Demand Course
This course, taught by David Tollen, will help you understand and negotiate contract terms about intellectual property (IP) – in contracts about artificial intelligence (AI), SaaS, and other information technology. These IP terms play a central role in licenses to on-premise software – and a much-misunderstood role in contracts about SaaS and other forms of cloud computing, including AIaaS. We debunk the myths and explore both old and new issues, including new issues related to generative AI deals.
In just over an hour, you will learn:
- Typical software copyright license
- IP in prompts, training data, and outputs – and other troubles generated by artificial intelligence
- The role of patents
- Licensing (or the lack thereof) in SaaS, AIaaS, and other cloud
- IP indemnities
- IP warranties and other remedies
- Open source software
You are welcome to view a complimentary sample lesson here.
Publications
Our trainer, David Tollen, also explains IP terms related to technology contracts in his publications, which include:
• The Tech Contracts Handbook: Cloud Computing Agreements, Software Licenses, and Other IT Contracts — for Lawyers and Businesspeople, Third Edition (ABA Publishing / IP Section 3rd ed. 2021). See for example Part I (Prime Clauses) and Appendix 1 (Intellectual Property). The Tech Contracts Handbook is consistently a bestseller from the IP Section of the American Bar Association, is used in law school classrooms, and in April 2025 was translated into Mandarin.
• Trade Secrets Practice in California (The Continuing Education of the Bar – California (CEB), 2nd ed., Nov. 2023). David co-authored Chapter 16 (Protecting Computer Software). See for example Sections V (Protection Under Federal Copyright Law), and VI (Limitations on Scope of Copyright Protection).
And he regularly contributes articles on contract topics to our website, available free here.
More
You can learn more about our on-demand offerings here, and our live webinars here, both including the comprehensive Tech Contracts Master Class series.
Continuing Legal Education (CLE): Credit is available!
- California: Tech Contracts Academy is an approved CLE multiple activity provider (MAP). Your CA CLE credit is “participatory” for attending live webinars, “self-study” for watching on-demand courses and recordings of webinars. Credit is “general” unless a subfield is identified on a course’s sales page.
- Other Jurisdictions: We provide a certificate and other resources that may assist students seeking credit outside California. (Jurisdictions differ on whether students may self-report or apply individually and, if so, what’s required.)
- See here for more details about our CLE.
The fine print: Tech Contracts Academy® LLC is not a law firm, and does not provide legal services. The Tech Contracts Handbook, and Tech Contract Academy’s publications and courses, are intended for general informational purposes only; they are not to be considered, and do not provide, legal advice. Course participation is subject to our Terms of Use, available on each course’s sales page for review prior to purchase.