Website designers and their customers should always use a written website design agreement to regulate the design of a new website. A written agreement should also be used for the re-design of an existing site. This website design agreement template can be adapted to suit either a particular business, or a specific deal. The template can be freely edited: to balance the interests of the parties, or to protect the interests of only one of the parties.

One of the key features of any website design agreement will be the intellectual property rights (IPR) clause. The IPR clause in this template contains two options: the first provides that the IPR subsisting in the web design will remain with the designer, and that the customer will benefit from a licence to use those rights; the second provides for a mixed assignment and licence. Also included is a straightforward acceptance testing clause, which provides for a mechanism to help the parties determine whether the website meets the agreed specification.

This website design agreement is designed to assist legislative compliance. Particular Acts of Parliament considered in the drafting include the following.

• The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
• The Data Protection Act 1998
• The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
• The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999

This agreement will help you to manage the legal risks associated with entering into a contract for web design services. Common areas of contention between website designers and their clients include the following.

• Does the website meet the required criteria?
• Can the customer re-purpose the website and code?
• Can the customer take the website to another hosting company?

A written website design agreement will help you to address these sorts of issues.

If you are looking for a standard terms and conditions-type document, you should also consider our balanced T&Cs-style web design contract.

If you are looking for a document with a built-in bias, see our pro-designer web design agreement or our pro-customer website design contract.

This agreement template is not suitable for use where the designer's work involves significant amounts of software or database development, in which case you may want to consider our web development agreements.

The balanced website design agreement contains the following clauses:

(1) Definitions and interpretation
(2) Term
(3) The Services
(4) Customer obligations
(5) Delivery and acceptance
(6) Third Party Works
(7) Unlawful Content
(8) Charges and payment
(9) Intellectual Property Rights
(10) Warranties
(11) Limitations and exclusions of liability
(12) Data protection
(13) Confidentiality and publicity
(14) Termination
(15) Effects of termination
(16) General

The document is supplied in MS Word (.doc) format for easy editing. It is 15 pages (including cover sheet and footnotes). You can review the first few pages here:

Sample Website Design Agreement

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