Contract Review: Meredith SIPS

Meredith SIPS is the special interest arm of Meredith. I received a contract from a writer about to do something for them. It's a short document - one page - and it does require signing over copyright. (My source says that SIPS won't budge on any contract terms, but pays well and quickly, even though the contract doesn't say when you get paid - whether on acceptance or publication.)

Much of the rest of the contract is a warranty clause – you won’t do this or that – and it’s limited to things you knowingly do, which is a good addition. There is also a hold harmless clause, which, to my understanding, means that you won’t seek damages from them under a given circumstance. In this case, you are the one providing the warranty that the work won’t do any of these things that would be a problem. Under a hold harmless condition, you relieve them of liability, which is different from an indemnification, in which case you’re also agreeing to foot their bill. It might be good if possible to change the phrase “the undersigned will hold MEREDITH harmless for breach of this warranty” to “the undersigned will hold MEREDITH harmless for undersigned’s breach of this warranty” so there couldn't be confusion. But if you can live with losing copyright on the piece, I think that change would pretty much do it.