Contract Review: CreditCards.com

Here's my review of the CreditCards.com publishing contract, forwarded by a reader who wanted my view. As always, please remember that I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice:

• A and B. Although not a draw-back, per se, realize that this will govern work going forward. If you think to yourself, "Maybe I can get this changed in the future," you leave the door open for them to say, "We're already set with a contract, so that should do."


• 1. You are granting exclusive license to publish the article on their own web site or in their own publications or in any other. You cannot resell the work. They can license others to use the material, as well. Also, you're selling the right to claim copyright, and it's work made for hire. You can't do anything with any of the articles you write for them in the future.


• 2. Payment is in US dollars within 30 days of their acceptance - and that's on its final edit, whatever that means and whenever that happens. More realistically, they have 30 days to accept and then 30 days to pay, so that's up to two months after submission.


• 4c. You guarantee that you won't infringe on anyone's rights under Texas law. I'd think that would have to include federal law for copyright to make any sense. But you'd better be aware of what under Texas law might be an infringement of rights, or add that it has to be a knowing infringement.


• 4e. Again, you have to agree that you won't libel someone, infringe rights to privacy or publicity, harmful enough to expose the publisher to a suit, or otherwise illegal. Again, better know these specifics under Texas law.


• 4g. Factual statements should be true within the best effort of the writer to know. Your research might seriously suggest that something is right when it actually isn't. Get it wrong, and you're breaching the agreement. Generally, I like indemnification to kick in only with an actual breach of the warranties, and not for just any "violation," which is what they tack on.


• 8. This is a crock. You are agreeing that either the negotiations or much of the work happens in Texas, which simply may not be true. You're agreeing that any legal dispute gets handled in Texas, which puts you at a disadvantage. What if you have to sue to get money?


• 11. The contract specifies a kill fee of 25%, but doesn't say when they publisher can opt to do that, other than when rejected. But it should be rejected for not meeting professional standards or the details of the assignment. They shouldn’t have the flexibility to do that if you've actually performed under the contract.

As always, I welcome readers to post about their experiences, to ask questions, or to submit their own contracts. The only requirement is to be a subscriber to this blog and to recognize that I will post my review (without any information to identify you).