>>>You keep begging everyone to write for your site. I guess that's the 'price' for 'free' membership??? ;) lol
>>
>>:)
>>
>>I wrote a lot myself so far. I wish I had more time to write more.
>>
>>This is a subject that I like a lot as I do about 12 paper contracts per year and all shared information coming from others in the same business are valuable for me.
>Remember that the flip side of a good contract is managing who is liable if a problem occurs in the future. We probably spent more time in umbrell contracts and underlying work orders and title transfer documents to assure BOTH parties in the transaction clearly understand when something is done and accepted as deliveried. Since copyright in the software world is further clouded by what is or is not a derivitive work (how many popup calendars are truely original works and completely allowed in a commercial product) and if you really want a head spinner - how about the icons, bmps and orher images included in just about everyones work -- I once had a close friend in the music/photo business explain copyright law in that space and BLAAAAAAAA.
>
>A good basic contract where you are a independent contractor not employee, not 'work for hire', retain all rights to everything thought of during the project even if in a bar unless explicitly granted, responsible for nada after delivery and customer acceptance (get it in writting) is a good start. This is not to say you leave customers floundering but it is amazing how much additional thought goes into customer testing if they cannot use the application in production (if they do it's defacto acceptance - put that in the contract) until a formal acceptance of the work is executed -- everyone wins and memories do not become short about verbal committments.
>
>My Opinion Only
>Gary


Again....be careful with this. Last time I checked into it, even if the upfront contract stated who owned the copyright, it wasn't binding until AFTER the work was completed and another legal document, again stating who owns the copyright, is signed. Also, careful attention needs to be made to client acceptance. What does this mean? How long does the client have to say yes or no? What if you install the program, the client runs it for 6 months, and doesn't say anything. You go away thinking all is ok cause you didnt' hear from them. Then all of a sudden there is a problem. Is it your fault or should you get paid to fix it? Nothing beats talking to a lawyer about this.

Craig