[Photo678]

and why or why not.

Work Made For Hire Contract (Graphic Artist, .....)

This Agreement is made this ___________day of _____________________,
200___, by and between ......, a Maryland Corporation, hereafter ”SSS” and ______________________________, hereafter referred to as “Graphic Artist”.

For and in consideration of the sum of _______________________dollars, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, Graphic Artist agrees to utilize original art work and design supplied by SSS for the products and services listed in attachment A hereto. The Graphic art work is subject to the approval and acceptance by a duly authorized officer of SSS and will be completed to the satisfaction of SSS by Graphic Artist.

If Graphic Artist fails to complete the assignment in a timely fashion or fails to complete the assignment by producing art work acceptable to SSS in a timely fashion, then this agreement is terminated and Graphic Artist will refund any moneys paid to Graphic Artist.

The Graphic Artist acknowledges that the graphic art work and art work is the execution of ideas and concepts supplied by SSS and SSS has specially ordered and commissioned this work and that SSS is the owner of the copyright on this material. To the extent that the Graphic Artist holds any residual rights in the graphic art work and artwork the Graphic Artist hereby assigns to SSS all residual rights (including unlimited usage for promotional advertisements, website, brochure, catalog, TV commercial etc…) in the copyrights in the work described in Attachment A.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have signed this Agreement as of the date set forth above.

[Thorzdad]

No.

While "work for hire" is pretty darn standard these days, my objection comes in this paragraph...

"If Graphic Artist fails to complete the assignment in a timely fashion or fails to complete the assignment by producing art work acceptable to SSS in a timely fashion, then this agreement is terminated and Graphic Artist will refund any moneys paid to Graphic Artist."

Essentially, they do not specify what "timely fashion" is...one day? one week? And there is no provision for any delays brought about by their mis-management or constant revision or whatever. It's all on your back. Essentially they can hit you with unending revisions and still hold you to a short deadline. And if you don't make that deadline, or they don't like what you did ( the "producing art work acceptable to SSS" part) you don't get paid.

Sounds like they are setting you up to easily shaft you.

[art_director]

thorzdad speaks words of wisdom. get the time parameters ironed out BEFORE you sign anything. you should also look for a mention of delays on the part of el cliente.

i hate the legal b.s. in freelance.

speaking of that,,,

all freelancers ought to consider working as LLCs or S-Corps. both will protect your assets in the unlikely event that a client sues you. the S-Corps route can also offer some financial relief in the way of no self-employment tax (roughly 15% of your income as a Sole Prop).

i'd urge anyone interested to seek legal and tax advice prior to pursuing any such paths.

[Photo678]

Thats pretty much the red flag that jumped at me too, just wanted to make sure I wasnt being paranoid. Anyway, the client removed that entire part, as I stated the same thing, that it was far too vague.

Now it is just strictly a copyright contract saying that they own the rights to the graphics etc etc. (nothing original created by me, so no biggie)

Thanks everyone.