Legal ===== Legal terminology ----------------- Fixed price (Fixpreis) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A fixed price is a one-time payment or fee, for something we're not going to charge on a hourly-based rate. Prepayment / Partial payment (Vorauszahlung / Teilzahlung) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An advance payment for a `Fixed price (Fixpreis)`_ project or alike. .. seealso:: For advance payments for hourly-based services, use `Retainer`_. Retainer ~~~~~~~~ An advance payment for a hourly-based services (most likely consulting), which we didn't invoice yet. Services will be invoiced against this retainer until its depleted. Legally, unused or remaining retainers belong to the client and will not affect our profit. .. seealso:: Have a look at `Retainers on Investopedia `_ for more details. For advance payments for fixed price projects or alike, use `Prepayment / Partial payment (Vorauszahlung / Teilzahlung)`_. Support Pool ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Similar to a `Retainer`_, but with specific SLA's (availability, reaction time, etc.) and expiring hours. Legally, support pools are like «insurance services» and they belong to us – even if not used. .. note:: It's something between a `Retainer`_ (which is an advance payment for hours), and a `Maintenance fee (Wartungsgebühr)`_, but the inclusive hours expire monthly. License fee (Lizenzgebühr) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A recurringly charged service, for the usage of one of our products or services. Legally, the client pays this fee to use our intellectual property (aka IP) – similar to rent. Maintenance fee (Wartungsgebühr) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A recurringly charged service, for which we guarantee the availability and maintenance of certain services.