From PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Thu Nov 14 11:13:49 2002 Received: from cherry.ease.lsoft.com [209.119.0.109] by dpmail10.doteasy.com with ESMTP (SMTPD32-7.13) id A5ED127900CA; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 11:13:49 -0800 Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (209.119.0.19) by cherry.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Digital Unix v1.1b) with SMTP id <11.007D86E0@cherry.ease.lsoft.com>; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:59:55 -0500 Received: from MITVMA.MIT.EDU by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 9514 for PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:59:45 -0500 Received: from MITVMA (NJE origin SMTP@MITVMA) by MITVMA.MIT.EDU (LMail V1.2d/1.8d) with BSMTP id 7091; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:58:17 -0500 Received: from ns1.cypress.com [157.95.67.4] by mitvma.mit.edu (IBM VM SMTP Level 320) via TCP with ESMTP ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:58:16 EST X-Comment: mitvma.mit.edu: Mail was sent by ns1.cypress.com Received: from corpmail.cypress.com (corpmail [157.95.1.2]) by ns1.cypress.com (8.12.1/8.12.5) with ESMTP id gAEIvGax012099 for ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 10:57:16 -0800 (PST) Received: from kenmore.ipdsd.cypress.com (kenmore.ipdsd.cypress.com [157.95.129.67]) by corpmail.cypress.com (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id gAEInN63025186 for ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 10:49:24 -0800 (PST) Received: from aiw ([157.95.129.88]) by kenmore.ipdsd.cypress.com (8.11.6+Sun/8.11.6) with ESMTP id gAEIw9127950 for ; Thu, 14 Nov 2002 10:58:09 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v4.02) Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body Message-ID: <3DD38367.16753.FA69C8E@localhost> Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 11:05:11 -0800 Reply-To: pic microcontroller discussion list Sender: pic microcontroller discussion list From: Andrew Warren Organization: Cypress Semiconductor Subject: Re: [OT]: Standard contract for work? To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU In-Reply-To: <3DD33141.52D59C2A@3mtmp.com> X-RCPT-TO: Status: R X-UIDL: 277600485 X-Evolution-Source: pop://mailinglist%40farcite.net@mail.farcite.net/ X-Evolution: 000006ca-0000 Josh Koffman wrote: > So, here am I faced with the prospect of coming up with some sort > of contract for some work I will be doing. Does anyone here have a > standard type of contract they are willing to share? Or, at least > some sort of outline of things that should be covered? Josh: I concur with Andy Kunz's advice that you seek the counsel of a real- live actual attorney; if you want a contract that's legally defensible and that truly protects your interests, cutting and pasting from someone else's "standard" contract is a huge mistake. Laws vary from state to state and industry to industry, all contractors don't carry the same insurance, everyone's business and personal situation is unique, etc. If you're just looking for an idea of what issues should be covered... Well, that also varies widely, but the basics are: What will you provide and when, how and when will you be paid, what happens if you don't perform, what happens if your client doesn't pay, when does the contract end. Those basic points, though, can take a lot of explaining. Sub-topics beneath the main points could be -- among MANY others -- bug fixes, changes to the spec, testing and validation, licensing, transfer of any license, liability, confidentiality, and intellectual-property ownership. When I was consulting, my contract fit in 7 pages, but one of the large software-vendor professional organizations makes available to its members a "standard contract" template that's well over 200 pages long. Talk to a lawyer. Or write up something short and direct, in plain language, and hope for the best. DON'T try to write a detailed contract in "legalese" by yourself; a court is likely to consider the INTENT of a clear two- or three- paragraph contract, but might choose to interpret very strictly and literally any multi-page fine-print mess that you've compiled from bits and pieces of other contracts. -Andy === Andrew Warren -- aiw@cypress.com === Principal Design Engineer === Cypress Semiconductor Corporation === === Opinions expressed above do not === necessarily represent those of === Cypress Semiconductor Corporation -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics