Exclusivity agreement drafting or review for NZ deals

It is usually worth documenting exclusivity when one party is giving up the freedom to deal with competitors, alternative suppliers, or other channels for a defined period. That can happen in distribution arrangements, supply deals, referral relationships, strategic partnerships or early-stage negotiations where one side wants a protected window. If the commercial upside depends on exclusivity, the details should be written down clearly. Relying on emails or broad verbal promises can leave real uncertainty about duration, scope, exceptions and what happens if expectations are not met.

That depends on the arrangement, but the agreement usually needs to define exactly what is exclusive and what is not. Common points include the duration of exclusivity, territory, product or service scope, customer segment, minimum purchase or performance commitments, pricing or payment terms, service levels, liability allocation, confidentiality, intellectual property, termination rights and any carve-outs. It should also deal with practical questions such as whether existing relationships are exempt, whether passive inbound enquiries are allowed, and what remedies or consequences apply if exclusivity is breached.

The drafting usually depends on what each party is promising, how valuable the exclusivity is, and what commercial trade-off supports it. For example, exclusivity tied to minimum order volumes, launch milestones, marketing spend or geographic rollout will need different wording from a short negotiation lock-out. We also look at whether the arrangement sits alongside a broader supply, services or IP relationship, because those linked documents can affect liability, performance standards and exit rights. The more specific the commercial deal, the more precise the agreement should be.

A template may cover the basic idea of exclusivity, but it often leaves out the commercial mechanics that matter most once money, performance and termination are on the line. It may not explain whether exclusivity is absolute or limited, what exceptions apply, or what happens if one side misses targets or changes direction. A tailored agreement is usually more useful where exclusivity is tied to supply obligations, service standards, intellectual property use or staged rollout plans. That is often where disputes begin if the wording is too general.

After you provide the relevant deal details and any existing draft or heads of agreement, we work on the exclusivity agreement itself and raise any document-specific issues that need clarification. If you already have a draft, we can review and amend it rather than starting from scratch. The fixed-fee covers the work listed on this page for one agreement, including one round of amendments. It does not include tax advice, court work, or ongoing representation in negotiations or disputes after the document stage unless we agree that scope with you upfront.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Exclusivity Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.