White Label Agreement

Grow your business through white labelling. Our commercial lawyers draft tailored white label agreements for a wide range of businesses.

Why use a white label agreement?

When it comes to running your successful business, branding is a crucial element. Many businesses have taken the path of developing their brand by manufacturing their own products. However, the road to manufacturing a product is complex and if the appropriate due diligence isn’t conducted concerning the manufacturer, it can sometimes result in poor quality products or even faulty ones.

An alternative you could consider is selling products already manufactured by another party and entering a White Label Agreement to sell those products under your brand.

What needs to be included in a white label agreement?

1. Product warranties

Some warranties that may be included are:

• It should be made clear in the agreement that the party supplying the goods must provide goods of acceptable quality and free of defects;
• The goods are fit for purpose;
• The goods are safe and are in no way hazardous;
• The party supplying the goods should warrant that the goods don’t breach any rights, including intellectual property rights, of third parties.

2. No partnerships

The agreement should state that the parties are in no way partners or joint venturers, but are classed as contractor and principal.

3. Exclusivity

Will the supplier be providing the goods on an exclusive basis or are they free to supply to other parties?

4. Intellectual property rights

Will the supplier provide the reseller a licence to sell the products or will the reseller buy the products outright?

It should be noted that the reseller’s branding, copyright and any trade marks are their intellectual property and that nothing in the agreement confers any of their intellectual property rights to the manufacturer.

5. Repairs

There should be listed certain circumstances in which the supplier will repair or replace defective goods.

6. General terms

For example: limitation of liability of the parties, confidentiality, termination and dispute resolution.

What are the advantages of using a white label agreement?

A White Label Agreement allows resellers to quickly establish themselves in any market.

The reseller isn’t burdened with the costs of developing and manufacturing a product, which can also be a time consuming endeavour. The supplier is able to sell its products to the reseller and not have to concern itself with the costs associated with marketing it.

What are the different types of white label agreements?

White label software agreement

A white label software agreement sets out the terms and conditions on which the supplier provides the Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to the customer. It should include the supplier’s disclaimers and limits on the supplier’s liabilities in providing the SaaS solution. It also sets out the service level agreement committed to by the supplier.

White label license agreement

This agreement defines the terms between a white label platform service produced by one company (the supplier) that other companies (the customers) rebrand to make it appear as if they had made it. For example, a booking platform for hair salons that hair salon owners can rebrand with their own logo, colour scheme and style.

White label partnership agreement

In the provision of services, a white label partnership agreement can be set up, for example, between an individual and a company, when the individual provides goods or services to the company on a project basis, without being part of the company’s core team.

White label agreement for products

This White Label Agreement sets out particular products a supplier agrees to provide to a customer. The customer’s branding and trade marks are applied to the product, for the customer to sell directly to consumers as its own product.

Should I use a free white label agreement template?

There’s always a risk to using a free white label agreement template obtained online with the intention of making changes to it yourself. This is due to the fact that the template was not drafted with your particular situation in mind and may be missing a number of key areas that would protect your business.

Having the agreement drafted by a lawyer is best practice to ensure your business is protected to the highest degree possible.

Key takeaways

White labelling opens up new possibilities for your business. If you’re looking to reduce the costs associated with developing and manufacturing a product, then entering into a white label agreement might be for you.

Consider the points discussed in this article when entering into a white label agreement. It’s important that the agreement makes the rights and obligations of each party clear, to limit legal risk and to avoid issues down the track.

We can draft a tailored agreement to protect your business for a fixed fee starting from $1,400 + GST.

Contact us today on 1800 820 083 or make an enquiry below if you require any assistance with a white label agreement.

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