Legal Glossary

Browse 40 legal terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

40 Legal Terms

Accessibility
Accessibility in technology refers to the design and development of products, websites, and applications so they can be used by people with disabilities,...
Cap Table
A capitalization table — a spreadsheet or tool tracking who owns what percentage of a company, including founders, investors, employees (options/RSUs), and...
CLA Bot
An automated system that checks whether a contributor has signed a Contributor License Agreement before their pull request can be merged. CLA bots are common...
Contributor Agreement
A legal agreement that contributors sign to define how their submitted code or content can be used, licensed, or redistributed by a project or company. It is...
Contributor License Agreement
A legal agreement that contributors sign before their code can be accepted into an open-source project. CLAs typically grant the project maintainers rights to...
Data Breach
An incident where sensitive, protected, or confidential data is accessed, disclosed, or stolen by an unauthorized party. The event that turns a security team's...
Developer Certificate of Origin
A lightweight contribution attestation, commonly abbreviated DCO, where contributors certify that they have the right to submit the code and agree to the...
Digital Chain of Custody
The documented record of how digital evidence was collected, transferred, stored, accessed, and preserved over time so its integrity and handling can be...
Draft Term Sheet
A preliminary version of the key financing terms proposed before the final signed term sheet is settled. Draft term sheets are often where major negotiation...
Drag Along
A contractual right allowing majority or specified shareholders to require minority holders to participate in a sale or transaction on the same terms....
Due Diligence
The comprehensive investigation an investor performs before committing capital — examining financials, technology, team, market, legal liabilities, and...
Escrow
An arrangement where money, shares, code, or other assets are held by a neutral third party until specified conditions are satisfied. In startup deals, escrow...
Heads of Terms
A high-level summary of the principal commercial terms of a proposed agreement before full legal documents are completed. It is closely related to a term sheet...
IANAL
I Am Not A Lawyer — a disclaimer preceding legal opinions from non-lawyers, providing zero actual legal protection but signaling self-awareness that the...
ICLA
Short for Individual Contributor License Agreement, a legal document signed by an individual contributor granting a project certain rights over submitted...
Information Rights
Contractual rights allowing investors or certain shareholders to receive financial statements, reports, and other company information on an ongoing basis....
Intellectual Property
Legally protectable creations such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and proprietary know-how owned or controlled by a company. In startups,...
IP
Short for intellectual property in startup and business contexts, referring to protected creations such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets....
Joint Venture
A business arrangement where two or more parties create a shared entity or commercial structure to pursue a specific opportunity together. Joint ventures are...
License Compliance
The practice of ensuring that all open-source dependencies in a project comply with their license terms. Copyleft licenses (GPL, AGPL) require derivative works...
Licensing
A business model or legal arrangement where others pay for the right to use technology, content, software, or intellectual property under defined terms....
LOI
Usually short for letter of intent, a preliminary document indicating serious interest in moving toward a transaction or agreement. In startup practice, an LOI...
MIT
Usually referring to the MIT License in open-source software contexts, a short permissive license that allows broad reuse with relatively few conditions. In...
MOU
Short for memorandum of understanding, a document describing broad intentions or terms between parties before a full contract is finalized. An MOU can be...
NDA
Short for non-disclosure agreement, a contract requiring parties to keep certain information confidential. NDAs are common in fundraising, hiring,...
Non-Compete
A contractual clause restricting someone from joining or starting a competing business for a specified time, geography, or market after leaving a role. Its...
Non-Disclosure Agreement
A legal agreement requiring parties to keep specified information confidential and limit how it is used or disclosed. It is commonly shortened to NDA in...
Patent
A legal right granting limited exclusivity over an invention in exchange for public disclosure, subject to jurisdiction and scope. Startups use patents for...
Patent Troll
A pejorative term for an entity that acquires or asserts patents primarily to extract licensing fees or settlements rather than to build products. Startups...
Public Benefit Corporation
A legal corporate form that allows a company to pursue specified public benefits alongside shareholder value rather than treating profit maximization as the...
Right of First Refusal
A contractual right giving a party the option to match an offer before an asset or share can be sold to someone else. In startups, rights of first refusal...
ROFR
Short for right of first refusal, the contractual right to match another buyer's offer before a sale proceeds. It is a common term in shareholder agreements...
SAFE
Simple Agreement for Future Equity — a Y Combinator-created investment instrument where investors provide capital now in exchange for equity later (at the next...
Safe Harbor
A legal protection or disclosure framework that reduces liability if certain conditions are met, often around forward-looking statements or regulated behavior....
Service Agreement
A contract defining the services to be provided, responsibilities of each party, and the commercial and legal terms of the relationship. Startups use service...
SOW
Short for statement of work, a document that specifies the scope, deliverables, timeline, and responsibilities for a services engagement or implementation...
Standard Terms
The default legal and commercial terms a company normally uses in its agreements before custom negotiation. Standard terms matter because every exception adds...
Term Sheet
A non-binding document outlining the key terms and conditions of a proposed investment. Typically includes valuation, investment amount, liquidation...
Terms of Service
The legal terms governing how users may access and use a product or service, including rights, restrictions, and liability limitations. Terms of service matter...
Trademark
A legally protected word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies the source of goods or services. Startups care about trademarks because naming conflicts...

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