Service and Vendor Agreements

A master services agreement, or MSA, sets the general terms for an ongoing relationship, such as payment, liability, confidentiality and termination. Each project is then covered by a shorter statement of work with its own scope, schedule and price, so the parties don't renegotiate the same terms every time.

It caps how much one party can owe the other if something goes wrong, often at the fees paid under the contract, and may rule out certain kinds of damages such as lost profits. It is one of the most negotiated terms in a vendor contract.

Yes. Unless the contract says otherwise, a vendor or independent contractor may own the copyright in what it creates, even when the client paid for it. A clear ownership or license clause avoids that problem.

A service-level agreement, or SLA, sets measurable performance standards, such as response times or system uptime, and the remedy if they aren't met, often a credit against fees.