contractual question
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- stringbean
so i did this sub-contract job for a Marketing company that was working f or a client. simple enough.
i did some webpage designs, no coding or anything, ii was paid and they liked my work. sweet.
then i get an email from the company saying that the client decided on another design but used elements of my own.
is that, normal?
yeah, ok, i realize this might be a stupid question (or maybe not, i dunno) but i'm just getting start with contractual work.
thank you in advance.
- ********0
hmmmmm... well if they paid you, it's really up to you to allow them or not allow them. depends on what you signed.
- blaw0
the company paid you for your designs to be used for a client.
they then used part of the designs they paid you for.
on a business plane this sounds above board.
in a design sense, i'd be curious to see if they trashed the layout by pulling it together a la cart, or if it was a "this is a really good idea" sorta thing.
- ********0
just screw them over anyway you can, you'll come up with something. abusing others of the same vocation can be both fun and profitable.
- madirish0
i would say in the larger scheme, yes, it is. but, agree w/ above comment and what the final design will look like.
- ********0
your services were done under the agency and when you finished working that becomes the property of the agency.
- ********0
Its 100% legit.
They contracted you to do comps. You did them. They paid you for them. They or the client are, at that point, free to do what they like with them. There is no legal obligation for the client to keep them intact or even use them at all.
- ********0
unless, of course, it is written into the contract that the designs must be used in their entirety.
You can write anything you want into a contract.....a client might not sign it but, then again, they might.
For example, I just put a pretty cool "out clause" into a contract for a major project I just landed and the client had zero problem with it....and I thought they were going to. Protects my ass BIG TIME!
anyway, always read every contract you sign, even if it looks, on the surface, exactly like every other one you've seen.
- stringbean0
First, thanks to everyone who responded. Everyone's comments were really solid and have helped me feel better about the situation.
For the record, I signed a NDA and a standard Independent Contrac that the Marketing firm wrote. My father happens to be a lawyer with a love for contractual law, so I had no problem deciphering the jargon.
Actually, both contracts were written so poorly that Paragraph 3 would cancel out 5, and then 7 would cancel out 9. But I don't actually recall a statement that read 'using the final composition in its entirety.'
Humph. In summation, I think the situation is normal if but a little different.
Thanks again