>All the more reason to define the rights clearly in a written contract, eh?
>Or do you think, when it comes right down to it, the contract won't matter
>much either if the client has a more powerful lawyer/legal threat?
Don't know. Fortunately the only time we've come close to a lawsuit was in
a tiff with the Frank Lloyd Wright Gift Shop in the Marin County
Courthouse. The client had directed an SF service bureau to modify some of
our files without our permission, the output got botched by a hidden
Illustrator layer, and the client tried to force us to assume financial
responsibility for their screwing around with our files without our
permission. The client ended up taking our
not-at-all-legal-in-the-strictest-sense faxed agreement specifying our
ownership of the files down to a County lawyer, who took one look at it and
said, "Pay them." (Perhaps being on the County's salary rolls, he had no
reason to pursue a worthless lawsuit.)
My philosophy, after that incident, became, "ANY piece of paper is better
than none."
Which reminds me of an incident in the same courthouse. A friend lent money
to her boyfriend's family heirloom diamond as collateral. On the envelope
containing the diamond the boyfriend had handwritten, "Appraised value
$5000" when in fact it later turned out to be a near-worthless cubic
ziconia. In the absence of any written contract, the Marin County Court
judge, took that faint handwritten scrawl to be evidence of intent to
defraud, and my friend won her suit against the guy. Watching that friend's
extended legal maneuverings against her former boyfriend made me believe
that at least some judges lean towards fair, well-reasoned judgements even
when all the paperwork isn't strictly lawyer-like.
Suz
Suzanne Stephens, Stephens Design; Ashland, Oregon
541-552-1192 http://www.KickassDesign.com/
CyberCircus Grand Prize Winners http://www.thecybercircus.com/
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