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To wrap up the sections on our contract, let’s go over few more issues like copyright, authorization and content.
Sample Contracts
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The next section in our contract should cover
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the important issue of copyright.
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For freelance designers in creative fields,
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there are lots of concerns, such as the type of medium
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or product where the finished work will be used,
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the category of use, geographic location, and more.
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But for web freelancers, the most important issues are
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the transfer of ownership of the final work
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and all the assets involved
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while you retain the rights to display the work
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for advertising and promotional purposes.
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Clients may not be as aware as you are about copyright matters.
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Horror stories on the web of freelancers getting in trouble
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for clients handing over assets they have no rights to use,
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shows that you should be putting an effort
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to protect yourself against any simple copyright violations.
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Under your copyright section, include a provision
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with language similar to what follows.
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"You, the client, guarantee that any assets
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"such as text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks,
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"or any other artwork provided for use in the project
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belong to you, or that you have the permission to use them."
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Now, I'm not a lawyer, so if you want this
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in perfect legal terms, it's best to consult one.
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But that should cover the gist of what we're trying to get across.
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This way, if someone files a copyright violation
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when the project goes live, you're not the one in trouble.
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In this section, you'll also want to mention
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how copyright is assigned regarding the project you are about to embark on.
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Standard clauses inform the client that upon the final payment,
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the client owns all the graphics and other visual elements
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created for the project.
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Mention that all originals will be handed over to the client.
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I've seen clauses that indicate that the client
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is responsible for those files
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because the freelancer is not expected to hold onto them
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on completion of the project.
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The client also owns the text content, photographs,
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and any other data provided unless it was licensed from a third party.
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However, you, the freelancer, will own
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any of the markup, CSS, and any code produced,
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and you are licensing it to the client for use.
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Those are pretty much the basic industry-standard methods
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of solving copyright issues.
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But that's not all that's left,
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and I've lumped it all into one section, called Legal Stuff,
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because there's no real common theme here.
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So let's go over a few different things.
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First, there's authorization.
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There are clients out there who think that, because they are hiring you
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to work on a project, that you are essentially their employee.
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This is hardly the case.
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Indicate to the client that they are contracting with you
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to provide a service.
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You are thereby authorized to provide these services
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and can access the resources necessary to do so.
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You might also want to indicate
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that because the client is hiring you as an independent contractor
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they can't control where, how, and when you work.
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As odd as that sounds, it can be a problem.
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Then there's content.
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You'll want to indicate who will provide the content,
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whether it's the client, you, or someone else's responsibility.
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Since a lack of content can hold you back on your work,
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you should also indicate if there are any penalties
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for not receiving the content on time.
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Now, all the good and important legal stuff should go here as well.
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Do your best to protect yourself.
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Here are a few examples clauses from other contracts:
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"We can't guarantee that the functions contained
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"in any web page templates
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"or in a completed web site will always be error-free,
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"and so we can't be liable to you or any third party
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"for damages, including lost profits,
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"lost savings, or other incidental, consequential, or special damages
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"arising from out of the operation of or inability to
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"operate this web site and any other web pages,
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even if you have advised us of the possibilities of such damages."
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Now that is from Andy Clarke's Killer Contract,
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which I'll provide in the links below.
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You might also want to say that if the client
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tries to update the site themselves
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or hires another person to work on the site
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who then breaks the stuff,
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you're not responsible for these damages.
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You could fix it, but it will cost more.
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Finally, state the jurisdiction where any legal action
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related to the relationship and project should be filed.
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You could look across different templates across the web
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for this language, but it's quite important to take the time
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to understand it, or if you don't care for it,
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at the very least get a lawyer to put something together for you.
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Take some time and familiarize yourself with contracts.
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Draft up a few templates that you can
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quickly modify and send to get started on a project.
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As I mentioned earlier, the level of detail you want
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to go into with your contracts really depends on the clients
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and the type of project, so have different templates ready.
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Start with a short template, a few paragraphs long,
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that covers the essential topics.
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You can send this one over to small clients
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or ones that you have longstanding relationships with.
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Build your way up to the most thorough contract you would like to have
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that serves as a great baseline for long and extensive projects.
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Now, as you gain experience, you can modify your contracts
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to reflect your needs best.
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There's just a few things left before we wrap this up.
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