18 August 2026, 02:26 PM
Signed our contract last week and now re-reading the exclusivity clause and honestly not sure what we agreed to.
Basically it says we can't work with another custom AI development company on anything "related to the same domain" for the duration of the contract plus six months after. At the time it felt fine, we were excited to get moving, but now that I'm actually thinking it through I'm realizing that's a pretty broad restriction and I don't fully understand what counts as "related."
This is our first time signing with a custom AI development company in USA so I had zero context for what's a normal clause versus something overly restrictive. Kind of wish I'd asked more questions before signing.
Trying to Understand What We Actually Agreed To
Talked to a friend who's dealt with custom AI development services contracts before and started looking into what exclusivity clauses typically mean and don't mean:
Where I'm At Now
Emailing our point of contact today asking for clarification on what exactly counts as "related domain" work. Also probably getting this looked at properly this time instead of skimming it. If anyone's dealt with an exclusivity clause like this with a custom AI development company, curious how narrow or broad yours ended up being in practice.
Basically it says we can't work with another custom AI development company on anything "related to the same domain" for the duration of the contract plus six months after. At the time it felt fine, we were excited to get moving, but now that I'm actually thinking it through I'm realizing that's a pretty broad restriction and I don't fully understand what counts as "related."
This is our first time signing with a custom AI development company in USA so I had zero context for what's a normal clause versus something overly restrictive. Kind of wish I'd asked more questions before signing.
Trying to Understand What We Actually Agreed To
Talked to a friend who's dealt with custom AI development services contracts before and started looking into what exclusivity clauses typically mean and don't mean:
- Exclusivity usually applies to the specific project or use case, not your entire company's future AI work, but the wording matters a lot here
- If a custom AI development company wants exclusivity across your whole business rather than just this one project, that's worth pushing back on before signing
- Ask exactly what "same domain" or "related work" means in writing, vague language in custom AI development services contracts causes problems later
- A reasonable custom AI development company in USA should be fine with you hiring someone else for a completely unrelated AI use case even during the contract term
- Check how long the exclusivity lasts after the project ends, six months is common but some contracts stretch it much longer than necessary
- If you're unsure what you signed, get someone to review it now rather than waiting until you actually need to hire a second vendor and realize you can't
Where I'm At Now
Emailing our point of contact today asking for clarification on what exactly counts as "related domain" work. Also probably getting this looked at properly this time instead of skimming it. If anyone's dealt with an exclusivity clause like this with a custom AI development company, curious how narrow or broad yours ended up being in practice.