Practice area
Technology, Media & Telecommunications / IT ContractsTechnology, media and telecommunications / IT contracts
Define the intended work in Technology, Media & Telecommunications / IT Contracts, confirm the applicable requirements and select a task to plan the necessary review.
Key facts
- Tasks covered
- 24
- Tasks with a step-by-step checklist
- 6
- Local differences
- 3 jurisdictions where this area changes
Jurisdiction
Tasks
GreenLawyer reviewYellowClose supervisionRedLawyer-led
| Task | How AI is used | Human involvement | What the lawyer must review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review a vendor contract against the technology playbook | Compare the vendor MSA, SaaS terms or click-wrap to the client's playbook and produce a clause-level issues list with missing liability, IP, data and exit protections. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Diligence an AI vendor for a US adviser or broker-dealer client | Extract the vendor’s AI-capability claims and data-use terms for comparison with the client’s Form ADV or marketing copy. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Draft a data-processing, IP, SLA or exit schedule from the playbook | Produce a first-draft schedule from the playbook and deal facts, listing definitions, service levels, change control and transition terms that need commercial input. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Build a one-sided terms table for a standard-form technology contract | Flag termination, variation, liability, auto-renewal and unilateral change terms that may be one-sided, with clause references. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Build a one-sided terms table under the ACL or the ASIC Act | Flag termination, variation, liability, auto-renewal and unilateral-change terms that may fail the three-limb unfair-terms test; cite clauses and draft issues. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Map data locations and cross-border flows from the vendor DPA | Extract stated data residency, subprocessors and transfer mechanisms from the DPA and architecture paper into a flow table with gaps marked. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Build an open-source and contractor-IP issues table for a technology deal | From the target contracts and licence notices, list ownership gaps, contractor-created IP and copyleft or attribution conditions with document references. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft or review security and incident-notification clauses | Produce a security schedule covering standards, audit rights, notification timelines and incident cooperation, and list gaps against the playbook. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft security and incident clauses against the SOCI Act, Privacy Act and CPS 230 | Produce a security schedule (standards, audit, notice timelines, incident cooperation) with gaps against the SOCI Act, Privacy Act, APRA CPS 230 and ASX Listing Rule 3.1. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Draft a software escrow agreement from the release triggers | Produce a first-draft escrow agreement covering deposit materials, verification, release triggers and licensed-materials definition. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Draft an outsourcing or managed-services structure from the term sheet | Produce a first-draft structure for SLAs, governance, benchmarking, step-in, change control and exit from the term sheet. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Build a technology-dispute chronology from the correspondence | Turn the contract and the correspondence file into a chronology of alleged breaches, notices and responses, with a list of missing documents. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Map carrier, numbering or consumer-safeguard duties from the licence papers | Extract the client's licence class and the obligations the lawyer has listed from the statute and licence conditions into a compliance table with gaps marked. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Map carrier, numbering or consumer-safeguard duties under the Telecommunications Act 1997 | Tabulate the client's licence class, carrier licence conditions, standard access obligations and the NBN instruments the lawyer has listed, with gaps marked. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Draft AI-use, training-data and output-warranty clauses for a vendor contract | Produce first-draft clauses on permitted AI use, training on client data, output warranties, audit and indemnities, mapped to the vendor's technical description. | YellowClose supervision |
|
| Review an open-banking or consumer-data-sharing participation agreement | Extract data-holder, recipient and API obligations from the agreement and line them up against the rules the lawyer has named, marking gaps. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Review a Consumer Data Right participation agreement and API terms | Line up data-holder, accredited-recipient and API obligations in the agreement against the CDR Rules and OAIC CDR Privacy Safeguards the lawyer has named, marking gaps. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Extract platform, app-store or marketplace terms that bind the client | Pull ranking, fee, termination, data and content-moderation terms from the platform paper into a table with clause references. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Extract platform, app-store or marketplace terms against the ACCC digital-platform inquiry | Tabulate ranking, fee, termination, data and moderation terms with clause references, and gaps against the ACCC Digital Platform Services Inquiry recommendations named. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Extract uptime, credits and support response times from the SLA schedule | Turn the SLA schedule into a table of metrics, measurement windows, exclusions and service credits with clause references. | GreenLawyer review |
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| Draft a statement of work from the proposal and the MSA | Produce a first-draft SOW covering deliverables, acceptance, dependencies and charges from the proposal, aligned to the MSA definitions. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Compare the signed technology contract with the last agreed issues list | Compare the signing copy with the issues list and the last negotiated draft; flag unimplemented changes and unexpected edits. | GreenLawyer review |
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| Review a SaaS agreement for AI-specific clauses | Flag training-use, output and liability terms. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer reviews. |
| Draft an AI addendum to a technology contract | Draft clauses on data, testing and transparency. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer settles. |
| Map a vendor's data flows for privacy impact | Build a data-flow table from documents. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer checks. |
| Prepare an incident-response checklist for an AI system | Draft checklist steps. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer approves. |
| Summarise telecommunications regulatory duties for a product | Summarise ACMA rules. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer verifies. |
| Review a GenAI vendor contract for TMT clients | Review. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer advises. |
| Advise on AI product liability | Analyse. | YellowClose supervision | Lawyer advises. |
| Summarise AI regulatory developments | Summarise. | GreenLawyer review | Verify. |
Firm-wide obligations
| Obligation | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Trust accounting & handling client money | Checks that apply across files. |
| Costs, billing & litigation funding | Checks that apply across files. |
| Client-facing & access-to-justice AI tools | Checks that apply across files. |
| Incoming evidence — deepfakes & synthetic documents | Checks that apply across files. |
| AI decision systems | Checks that apply across files. |
| Confidentiality & client information | Checks that apply across files. |
| AML/CTF — the practice as a reporting entity | Checks that apply across files. |
What changes in Australia
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Scope | Technology supply, software licensing, SaaS and cloud, outsourcing, Consumer Data Right participation and telecommunications agreements, from drafting to disputes. |
| Moving law | 2024 Privacy Act reforms, the unfair-contract-terms regime, SOCI Act CIRMP Rules amendments, APRA CPS 230 (replacing CPS 231), CDR expansion and the ACCC's proposed digital-platform regime. |
| Where it goes wrong | Text extraction and comparison suit AI. A wrong statutory threshold or invented precedent can expose the client to multi-million-dollar penalties or unenforceable clauses. |
| Limits on AI assistance |
|
What changes in New Zealand
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Consumer and unfair terms | Fair Trading Act 1986, not the ACL. |
| Overseas data | Privacy Act 2020 and IPP 12, not APP 8. Check IPP 12 and the Client Care confidentiality rules before client data enters a tool. |
| Consumer data right | No Consumer Data Right statute was confirmed for this research. |
What changes in United States
Known here as: Technology, media and telecommunications / IT contracts
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Governing law | State contract law plus federal communications, IP and privacy overlays. |
| Vendor terms | A Rule 1.6 diligence item under Formal Opinion 512, California's Practical Guidance and Florida 24-1. |
| Agentic tools | California's 2026 guidance covers agents that act without a new prompt. Do not let one file, email a counterparty or access documents without your controls. |
Precedents for this area
- SaaS / cloud services agreement (Australian law, business customers) (Agreement, AI use Yellow). Original Australian-law SaaS subscription agreement for business customers: service levels, fees, customer data and exit, privacy and security by schedule, IP, consumer-law-compliant warranties, liability, suspension and termination.
- AI standard clauses for AI features in cloud services (Bonterms AI Standard Clauses v1.0, CC0) (Clause, AI use Yellow). The Bonterms AI Standard Clauses v1.0 reproduced unchanged under CC0: a short, option-based AI terms addendum covering training on inputs and outputs, ownership of inputs and outputs, infringement, disclaimers, third-party model providers and use restrictions.
- AI addendum: ownership of AI-generated output, training-data rights and AI-specific warranties (customer-side) (Agreement, AI use Yellow). Customer-side addendum for any technology contract with AI features: who owns outputs, a no-training default for customer data with opt-in, retention and deletion, model-provider flow-downs, IP warranties and indemnities, human oversight, transparency, model changes and AI incidents.
- Australian Government AI model clauses (DTA, BuyICT ClauseBank): use guide for agencies and suppliers (Clause, AI use Yellow). Guide to the Digital Transformation Agency's AI Model Clauses (version 2.0) on BuyICT: which use case each section covers, the clauses that most affect suppliers, and how to respond in a Commonwealth procurement.
- Data protection, security and breach-notification schedule (processor terms) (Clause, AI use Yellow). Schedule for contracts where a supplier handles a customer's personal information: purpose limits, security, sub-processors, offshore disclosure, incident notice supporting the NDB assessment, ransomware and SOCI reporting, audit and deletion; NZ and UK variants.
- Software development agreement with AI coding-assistant and open-source terms (Agreement, AI use Yellow). Original Australian-law agreement for custom software development that controls developers' use of AI coding assistants, deals with ownership of AI-assisted code and the human-authorship gap, manages open-source licences and SBOMs, and sets acceptance, warranty and IP indemnity terms.
- Checklist: reviewing a vendor SaaS or technology contract (customer side, including AI terms) (Checklist, AI use Yellow). Customer-side review checklist for vendor MSAs, SaaS terms and click-wrap: documents and precedence, service levels, fees and variation, data and AI training rights, security and incidents, IP, liability, exit and regulatory overlays.
All precedents for Technology, Media & Telecommunications / IT Contracts. Signed-in accounts can read the full text.