contract clauses you've pushed back on.

braden H

I just sent an email to a potential client to remove about 1/6 of the contract they sent me.

The bits I asked them remove defined what they refer to as an "invention" as anything and everything (ideas, concepts, works of authorship, methods of creation, on and on and on) and then went on to basically say that any and all "inventions" made by me (whether on the clock or off the clock) during the contract were theirs (all rights were theirs). Also any and all inventions made AFTER the contract that were in any way related to the work done for them or based on their present or future business interests (the definition of 'related' was left wide open) were also theirs.

I'm fine with work for hire once in a while, but this seemed silly.

long story short my month of march may have just opened up

I'm curious, what's everyone's worst contract that they've refused to sign or pushed back on? What are some of the silliest things people have tried to get you to sign?

lizardillo

@braden-hallett wow, are they trying to claim your brain belongs to them from this day forward and forever more? I do not have any contract experience but that sounds a bit weird.

K.Flagg

I have no contract experience either but I am constantly blown away with what artists are expected to sign.

Kim Hunter

@k-flagg Is this client an established player? Or a newbie in the biz? The way it's worded just sounds ridiculous.

NessIllustration

@braydin-hawlette This seem like it may have been drawn up by an overly zealous lawyer. Their job is to protect their client's interests, not the artist's interests. The editor and art director may be only vaguely aware of what's in the contract and may be a lot more agreeable than you might think at the request of removing it. Especially if work for hire was not part of the deal to begin with!

But I've requested clauses to be removed or changed in the past and most of the time experienced zero pushback and they were more than happy to send the contract over the their lawyer to make the changes. Sometimes also, what's in the contract is their best case scenario wish list, not deal breakers. So I wouldn't necessarily worry about this project offer being rescinded just yet

braden H

@nessillustration Very true! It could also be a catch-all contract that they use for a completely different part of their industry (doesn't look like they do much in the way of books yet?) I'll be interested to see what they say back!

Michael Angelo Go

Bleh! People like that are the reason why I have been pushed out of the illustration industry as a whole. I probably won't do another work-for-hire job, unless I get paid $30K and up (and that's me lowballing if I'm being perfectly honest).

If you've ever followed my posts here on the forum, you've probably heard a million times how I've whined about how a client once tried to trick me into doing a work-for-hire children's book for only $100 and then wanted to publish it without my name certainly on it. Or when I had a client ask me to do a lot more work, even when they established that our contract had officially ended. I was willing to do it, I just didn't want them to get the impression that they can ask me to do more stuff that I was not getting paid for, but they still got offended anyways.

I try not to be so sour nowadays, even though my brief time as an illustrator really affected me in such a profound way. I try to politely explain my standards to newcomers when I am approached by indie authors.

hakepe

I belong to an illustration society that allows you to use their lawyer for a couple of hours per year to check some contracts I was not happy about. After talking to them I asked a few things to be removed and altered. The publisher was happy to do that and if they are not then that is a good sign to "run for the hills" and hope they never call you again.

Jeremy Ross

These terms are way too onerous @braydin-hawlette; definitely striking them was a good call.

This is why all artists need to RTFC (Read the Full Contract)! You can replace the “f” with an expletive for teaching purposes (smile)

lpetiti

@jeremy-ross the explicative was the first thing that came to my mind...