Re: Was Scope of Agreement or Letter of Intent-Now unemployed.

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Sean Wheller wrote...

> This is an infringement on your personal privacy and he had no right to
> search any part of you or your belongings. I think you have grounds to sue,
> under deformation of character, trespass and invasion of privacy.

While it was a very lame thing for the boss to do, suing them is not an answer.
Just because somebody is a jerk doesn't mean its morally or even legally
acceptable to sue them for "deformation" of character (whatever that is). 

> In addition, if the contract stated that all produce developed by you was
> the property of the company, then you will not be covered by copyright law.
> You essentially wavered that right when you signed a contract. However, if
> it did not, then you are covered. Therefore, you are entitled to the source
> files and any produce/profit created there from. They may be liable to pay
> you royalty on the distribution. 

It is generally accepted in the US that any person hired on a contract basis
has no ownership of the materials he/she produces. And virtually all employment
contracts state that. Moreover, the company could clearly make minor
modifications to the material and then claim it as their own. 

In other words, it would be extremely difficult to press any of this legally.
When a job relationship has gone sour, the best thing to do is walk away and
move on. Legal revenge because you feel wronged is just childish. 

(some snippage ahead)

> 2. Contract is contract and don't sway from it to be nice. That goes for
> both sides.
> 3. Anything gray, like "may be delegated to perform other tasks from
> time-to-time..." are a NO, NO.
> 4. Any changes shall be grounds for renegotiation of the price.
> 5. Delayed payment on installments is legally recognized as "credit-theft".
> DO NOT TOLLERATE IT. Charge interest on funds delayed. This must be clearly
> stipulated in your contract and invoices.
> 6. If payment is not resolved, stop work. Submit a new bill for time worked
> to date. Mail it, registered, to your lawyer and let him deal with it. Do
> not return until everything is ok with your lawyer. They may bitch, but they
> will not take you lightly in the future and you will surely get payments
> on-time. When you return, review and renegotiate your contract in context of
> the new situation.
> 7. All work created by yourself, remains your property until such time as
> all payments have been made in full.
> 10. Do everything in writing. Do not accept promises or spoken requests. YOU
> WANT IT ON RECORD, NOT ON TRUST. If something needs changing, BCC your
> lawyer.

I think these suggestions (as well as some I snipped) Sean are a little
outlandish.

Generally, if you show up to a meeting with a confrontational attitude, people
will either ignore you or purposefully fight you - just to put you in your
place. 

Legal wrangling is something that is an absolutely  LAST resort. Something you
do when all avenues of communication and negotiation have failed and the
cost-benefit equation of legal action is clearly tilted toward the benefit
side. You don't bring lawyers to the table unless you plan to fight. Most
business people will take it as you want to fight if you bring any kind of
legal wrangling into the picture. 

That said, the grand, whopping majority of disputes are best handled outside of
court. Once you get to a court, you're playing a high-stakes game. A game where
losing can be even worse than being ripped off. If you lose a case, you can be
held responsible for the other side's legal fees. Then your $5000 invoice
becomes a $15,000 debt. 

The key to all successful business relationships is diplomacy. Before you file
legal actions and charge late fees on missed invoices, the first, second, and
even third thing to do is to contact the relevant people and find out what the
situation is. Work the problem.

> Conduct yourself professionally, not only in your work but also on issues of
> contracts, billing etc.

"Conducting your professionally" does not mean hauling people to court the
instant something goes awry. That is more like revenge and retribution than it
is business. The grand majority of failed business relationships are the direct
result of miscommunication. Therefore, when a relationship is going bad, the
answer is not to slap the other party with lawsuits and threats, but to calmly
reason out the problems. I've practiced this business philosophy for 10 years
and never once landed in court.

Andrew Plato 


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