Data Ownership, Licensing, and Usage Rights
The non-negotiables for legal data
- You retain ownership of client data and work product
- Vendor use is limited to providing contracted services
- No training or secondary use without explicit, written permission
- Clear data return + certified deletion on termination
Common risky clause patterns
- Perpetual license to “use, modify, distribute” your data
- Vague rights to use data to “improve services”
- No export or only proprietary export formats