Make sure your freelancer contract is air-tight.In response to the article, "How to hire independent contractors A person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods; the contractor is not subject to another's control except for what is specified in a mutually binding agreement for a specific job. " (NL/NL 7/15/00), which summarized National Institute of Business Management National Institute of Business Management can mean:
"Thanks for the interesting article on freelancers. This makes a lot of sense, but there is an area that needs careful attention. We recently had some expensive litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , when a foreign freelancer free·lance n. also free lance 1. A person who sells services to employers without a long-term commitment to any of them. 2. An uncommitted independent, as in politics or social life. 3. A medieval mercenary. we have used for years dropped us in the mire mire (mer) [Fr.] one of the figures on the arm of an ophthalmometer whose images are reflected on the cornea; measurement of their variations determines the amount of corneal astigmatism. mire n. . "Out of the blue, an international publishing group accused us of plagiarism Using ideas, plots, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work. , a fact we strongly denied. We were then given unanswerable proof that this was true. The stories in question were written by this particular freelancer. You need to make it very clear in the contract that the freelancer will be held responsible for any such acts. There was a good article in a NEPA newsletter a year or so ago." That Hotline article (5/17/99), by Tom Hagy, pointed out that editorial directors "find it wise to have a lawyer review the agreements and that all duties are spelled out. No surprises." In the NL/NL piece, Annette Licitra also said it is imperative to have a contract. "Key elements: Rights, including worldwide copyright in all media. Liability [which should cover the plagiarism charge that Robin Cardwell faced].... Rules governing the contract. Signatures, dates, and contractor's Social Security number." In addition, specify who owns the contractor's work. Otherwise, the person who creates the work generally will hold the copyright. |
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