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Protecting your freelance work

Dave Smyth on August 14, 2019

I was recently contacted by an agency I’ve worked with on numerous projects. Their client disappeared mid-project and had been in touch to ask abou...
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Rob Austin

Forget clauses about copyright and IP, nobody really understands these and the ambiguity it brings can worry clients.

I really prefer your specific and actionable clauses. This is great.

  • The client doesn’t own (and can’t use) the design until it’s paid for
  • The design can’t be replicated to create new sites with the same design
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Dave Smyth

Definitely something for me to think about. Funnily enough, the rest of the contract is in plain-English – maybe this bit should be, too. 🙌

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Adrian Sandu

Thanks for sharing this story - and the page with the contract. I never really had a case when the client disappeared like that, as most of my work has been either recurring work with people I trusted, done via referrals or (a long time ago) via freelancing platforms.

But that's something to always have in mind when providing services to clients.

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Dave Smyth

Yes, definitely. This was the first time I’d experienced it, too. I was really surprised it wasn’t in their contract, but now it is – lesson learned!

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Adrian Sandu

I think it's like insurance. You hope you never need it, you think it can't really happen to you. But you're grateful to have it when the manure hits the fan.

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Dave Smyth

Absolutely – it’s the same with professional indemnity insurance.

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Ellen Macpherson

This is great insight, thank you! A real shame to hear about your colleague's experience, though :(

As someone looking to do more freelance work, I'm going to make sure I have a clear, concise contract that includes these clauses!

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Dave Smyth

Yes, definitely! Ultimately, the client paid up, but it was difficult for my colleague and these clauses would have made those conversations much easier. :)

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Jasper Stephenson

Damn.

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Dave Smyth

Ha, yeah! I’d only heard about this happening before. Horrible!

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Adrian Werimo • Edited

Wow this is eye opening 😳. Thanks Smyth

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Dave Smyth

Thanks, Adrian. Glad it was useful. 🙌

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Jen Miller

Nice post. The part about ownership of IP is really important. I think many new freelancers don't realize they can still own some IP even if they doing the work for someone.

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Dave Smyth

Thanks, Jen. Yes – I hadn’t thought about it until I saw this contract, and I didn’t really understand the point of the IP licensing until it was explained to me in the terms of a graphic designer licensing an image for certain usages. A really useful clause to have in any freelance contract.