Terms of Service

About this Common Paper agreement

How was this agreement created?

These Terms of Service are a customized version of the Common Paper Cloud Service Agreement (CSA). The CSA is an open source, standard agreement for buying and selling cloud services and SaaS, created by a committee of dozens of attorneys representing technology vendors, procurement teams, boutique firms, and Big Law. The default version of the CSA is structured to be signed (whether with a pen or digitally) by both the vendor and the customer. These Terms of Service are structured to be posted online by a vendor and for customers to click-to-accept. Using the same foundational agreement for both self-serve customers and direct sales enables smoother upsells, greater consistency, and easier compliance.

What is this for?

These Terms of Service support the use and sale of business-to-business cloud services or SaaS. If you’re looking for terms for a consumer product, blog, or marketing website, this probably isn’t what you need.

What happens if I negotiate and sign a Common Paper CSA with a customer that also agrees to the online Terms of Service?

If the customer signed a Cover Page and it is active, then the Cover Page will control over the Terms of Service.

I see this agreement is hosted online. Does that mean it will change?

Version 1 of this agreement will remain unchanged and hosted at commonpaper.com/standards/cloud-service-agreement/1.0. Over time, we will create new versions to accommodate changes to the law and additional use cases. We expect future changes to occur infrequently, and they will be posted as a new version. However, any new versions will not change agreements that incorporate prior versions. You also have the option to include the text of Standard Terms in your agreement if you or your customers prefer.

How do I use this as a clickthrough agreement?

To create a clickthrough Terms of Service using the Common Paper CSA, click the Configure Your TOS button on the top of the page. You’ll be guided through a series of questions to configure the agreement for your business, and at the end you’ll receive an agreement that you can download and post to your website. Alternatively, you can download a copy of the Cover Page and manually fill out the business terms of your agreement, like fees and subscription period, and the legal terms like the governing law of your contract. The Cover Page incorporates the Standard Terms by reference, allowing you to keep the version you present to users concise.

Do I have to use this as a clickthrough agreement?

You can also use the Common Paper CSA as a signed agreement here.

Can I leave something out of the Cover Page?

Yes, some concepts in the Cover Page are optional, like whether your agreement includes SLAs. When you download the Cover Page, you’ll see notes explaining which fields are optional. If you omit a variable from the Cover Page, the meaning will default to “none” or “not applicable” when the capitalized word is used in the Standard Terms.

Can I customize the Standard Terms?

All modifications to the Standard Terms should be made by addendum on the Cover Page. Incorporating the Standard Terms by reference from the Common Paper website gives both sides assurance that all key details and modifications are explicitly called out in the Cover Page.

What license is this agreement released under?

Common Paper agreements are free to use and modify under CC BY 4.0.