Review the offer before you sign.
Independent guides for owners of agencies, call centers, accounting firms and law firms who have been asked to license their company records (Slack, email, CRM) to AI data buyers.
Example clause
Written for illustration. Not from a real offer.
(a) Licensor grants Buyer a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to use the Licensed Materials.
No end date and no way out. Ask what happens if you change your mind, or if the buyer is sold.
(b) “Licensed Materials” means all workspace exports and email archives provided by Licensor.
Do you own everything in there? Client messages and employee messages may not be yours to license.
(c) Buyer may use the Licensed Materials to train and improve machine learning models.
“Improve” is broad. The clause doesn’t say who else those models can be sold to.
Who this is for
An email arrives from a company you have not heard of. It offers money for years of your team’s messages, client emails and CRM notes, and it wants an answer soon. You are not sure what you own, what a fair price looks like, or what you would be agreeing to.
These guides explain the questions to ask first. They are written for business owners, not for the people buying the data.
Guides in progress
- A checklist for reviewing a data-licensing offer Drafting
- Do you own the data? A rights check before you sell Drafting
- What AI data buyers say they pay Drafting
- What to do when the offer expires in a week Drafting
- The licensing clauses that matter most Drafting
- What's actually in a Slack export Drafting
How this site works
Own Your Archive is independent. No data buyer, broker or law firm pays for coverage. If we ever run sponsored placements, they will be clearly labeled and kept separate from the guides.
Everything here is general information, not legal advice. Have a lawyer read any contract before you sign it.