Want generic release form contract

[figment88]

For one of my sites, I'm planning on paying some people to write some articles. Not much so don't go giving me a bunch of stickies.

I would like a standard form that I would make the writers sign with wording that includes:

1) work for hire, writer does not have any copyright claims

2) pledge that the material is not plagarized, and all sources are cited

3) anything else that more experienced people think should be included

If you have a form like this, and you are willing to share, please post it here or sticky me.

TIA

[figment88]

Well haven't gotten any responses yet, so I took a stab at it. I would appreciate any comments.

Work For Hire - Writing

{INSERT NAME OF COMPANY} located at {INSERT ADDRESS} hereafter referred to as COMPANY has hired {INSERT NAME OF AUTHOR} of {INSERT ADDRESS} hereafter referred to as AUTHOR to write an article tentatively titled {INSERT NAME OF ARTICLE}. Total compensation due AUTHOR will be {INSERT COMPENSATION}. This transaction between COMPANY and AUTHOR is governed by the following agreements:

1) AUTHOR acknowledges that this is a work for hire and that all copyrights in the piece belong to the COMPANY.

2) AUTHOR acknowledges that the COMPANY reserves editorial rights as to grammar, spelling, deletions, formatting, and other minor changes that do not affect the material content of the piece.

3) AUTHOR warrants that none of the material is plagiarized and that citations are provided wherever material is used from another source.

4) AUTHOR maintains offline portfolio rights but agrees not to place the article on the Internet.

[renaissancewriter]

I'll give you my thoughts as a writer. You're asking for "all rights" in writers' jargon. Some people are starting to use "all rights, including electronic," just to cover themselves for the Internet. There's no need to explain any further to writers. I'm also not sure it's necessary to say the writer has portfolio rights because I've never seen that. I would never do work for a company if I couldn't tell anyone about it. At any rate, I think what you mean by copyright is that you aren't giving the writer a byline, which I'd state upfront. I assume that for web content or marketing writing I don't get a byline, but you still may want to make that clear.

I'd also try to put some type of timeline in the contract. I'm saying this having done editing before. Writers have a tendency to procrastinate - or not be in the creative "zone" - , so for your sake, you may want to include that. For their sake, you should probably specify how often and when you'll pay even if you discuss it in emails beforehand. That way everyone's on the same page as far as that's concerned.

[Pixelman]

Hi Figment,

as a writer (and probably as a lawyer) I would have problems with your first paragraph:

"1) AUTHOR acknowledges that this is a work for hire and that all copyrights in the piece belong to the COMPANY."

As far as I'm aware, copyright can't be transferred as such, it will always stay with the author. I would rephrase into something like this:

"1) AUTHOR acknowledges that this is a work for hire and grants COMPANY the exclusive rights to publish this work in electronic or any other form."

Note: I'm not a lawyer, but the contracts I signed as a writer normally contained a statement like this.

cu, Pixelman

[figment88]

Thanks for the feedback it was helpful. I thought my wording on the copyright part was awkward, your suggestions are a vast improvement.

The reason I had the bit about portfolio rights is because graphic designers I've contracted with in the past have included it. Though, I guess this points out a big difference between graphics and text work for hire.