03.09 Coordination of contracts

03 Contract Law

Parties regularly consider their agreements in isolation. However, it is also important that they are coordinated with agreements on the same contractual objects or areas. In relation to these, the agreements must not contain any contradictions and must be coordinated with them in terms of timing, especially with regard to their termination.

For example, individual contracts must be compared with the corresponding general terms and conditions. These may not contradict these. But e.g. a software development contract must also be coordinated with a software maintenance contract. In this context, in particular the elimination of defects within the scope of the development contract must be distinguished from the elimination of faults within the scope of the maintenance contract. Defects are rectified free of charge, faults are rectified against payment. Currently, I have a case in my law practice in which a software licence agreement was not coordinated with a cloud contract. The client terminated the software licence agreement in the middle of the year, but still has to pay licence fees for a cloud in which the licenced software was installed until the end of the year, although he no longer needs the cloud without a licence.

In large companies or organisations, the company-wide or organisation-wide coordination of contracts is a «mission impossible». This will probably only become really possible with the use of artificial intelligence.

03 Contract Law