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My company's security dept briefly (briefly!) put GCC on the banned software list. Yes, that GCC. Buncha big brainlords in that dept.

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I've been doing consultancy for OSS development and one in-between company asked me to sign a contract that had a random clause in it somewhere that banned the use of OSS for work.

When I pointed this out, they said "just ignore that part".

Nope LMAO!

...if you are told in writing (say over email) to ignore a part of the contract, can you do that? Does that part no longer apply?

You can strike a clause and then both parties countersign next to the strike mark on all copies and it will hold up in court.

Even so I would advise you to have the lawyers re-draft the entire thing.

You can change a contract before you sign it

Let the other side know, ensure you make the change clear and initial the change. 8f they sign the contract too, your change sticks

In my country, anyhow

It took a while to point out all the other stupidity in the contract (this wasn't the only part, just the most blatantly silly) and I ended up taking another one.

How did that work out for them?

Probably took them some time to clean up all of the the Work Stoppage tickets that every dev in the company filed, lol.

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