Breach of Collaboration Agreement?

Our newsletters have always aimed at directing individuals in the entertainment industry towards the right track. And from the responses, it seems that this place is becoming more and more vulnerable with each passing day and the need for protection from entertainment law is increasing in leaps and bounds.

So you want to know more about Collaboration Agreement and how to deal with the issue when a violation occurs? That’s not a very tricky one actually and we suggest that all individuals signing on the dotted lines of such an agreement must understand its full implication before actually putting down the signature. Collaboration Agreement is a very important part to be considered by any creative artist.

Collaboration Agreement – what is it actually?

Whenever two people collaborate to formulate a creative piece of work like music, screenplay, song or a book, they are said to be collaborators. A Collaboration Agreement contains a number of terms and conditions, the most important ones among these being-

• Copyright possession rights of the finished product
• Equal control over decision making (business as well as creative) in relation to the work concerned.
• Merger Clause which refers to the collaborators agreement upon the point of time when all contributions are gathered and unified as a single piece of work.
• Finalization of representatives for promoting the work and negotiating all kinds of deals.
• Death or Withdrawal of a collaborator.
• Distribution of royalties and revenues.
• Small Performing rights and Grand Rights of the creation.
• Dispute Resolve procedures.

While these terms are not restrictive and can be applied to suitability as per the nature of the collaboration, it is suggested that these are the basics which you must take care to include in the agreement. In fact, it is always better to get it drafted by a lawyer, tailored specifically to your team’s specific circumstances. What about you? Do you have all these in place? If yes, it can be helpful in managing your breach or dispute.

New-age Collaboration Agreements are less relying on expensive court procedures and adapting favorable dispute settlement methods like mediation or dispute arbitration. Come down to that only if you have really good mediators and arbitrators – the result may not match your expectations otherwise.

For those who are looking at drafting one, I would suggest that you get it done by a professional Entertainment Lawyer. The cost is negligible if you compare it to the losses that can come off in case the project does not click or is abandoned or gets tied up in litigation issues.