If I want to purchase the permission to use an amateur band''s music in my computer game... How would I do that? Here is what I know: 1) The band SHOULD be payed for their permission. I.E. I pay them an agreed amount of money to put X number of songs in the game. 2) I need the agreement on paper and signed and each party gets a copy. Therefore, I need a contract? So... My Question for you all is whether I need to talk to a Contract Lawyer and pay the Lawyer to Develop a Contract for me? Or whether I can just type one up myself carefully?

just talk to them, if they are just amateurs they would probably be happy

I''m trying to make sure I follow the legal guidelines to the teeth here. If I ''pay'' someone for anything at all.. Wouldn''t that mean that the payment must be taxed? I.E. go through IRS for State and Federal Taxes?

If I just slap someone $500 .. in ''theory'' that''s paying them under the table. That means I could get in trouble should the IRS find out about that.

Am I being an idiot worrying about this stuff? I don''t think so. Game Designers need to be cautious. America isn''t China:-(

If I decided to just do it under the table and pay the Amateur Band for the use of their songs. 2-3 years later when I release the game for sale... The profits I make out of the game... I mean I can see a scenario where a band member finds out about how much money you are making off your game and is ''mad'' that he only got payed X amount of money.

And if there is no signed contract... I could get sued or run into legal trouble. If there was a contract but it was something I typed up myself and I am not a lawyer.. How much credibility will the contract have in court?

If they haven''t copyrighted their songs (which they probably haven''t, cause that''s expensive), then they would have a pretty difficult time suing you.

I think for a legally binding contract, yes, you do need a lawyer to draft a contract. And that''s not just because a lawyer would know what to do, but because most of the time, it''s required by law that these things are done by people who are actually lawyers (as in, people who have passed the bar).

But I think it still would be worthwhile to draft up a "contract". Even if the contract isn''t completely legally binding, it would be good to put in writing exactly what the deal is- as in, exactly which songs you are allowed to use, exactly what context you''re allowed to use them in, exactly how long you''re allowed to use them, and exactly how much you are paying. A document like that would at least prevent any messy dissagreements/misunderstandings down the line.

And yeah, just pay them under the table. The IRS isn''t going to notice you until you start actually selling a product.

Thanks this definitely helps me answer several questions for me.

Pinacolada wrote,

"I think for a legally binding contract, yes, you do need a lawyer to draft a contract."
. . .
"But I think it still would be worthwhile to draft up a "contract". Even if the contract isn''t completely legally binding, it would be good to put in writing exactly what the deal is"

I am also going to photograph several outside and inside images of a Martial Arts Building, once I can get a contractual agreement with the Sensei. Therefore, I think I should plop the money down for a Contract Lawyer to write up a contract.
Before doing that I will research contracts in general and interview the Martial Arts Owner of the DOJO Center and see how the contract should be written.. what it should say.

Most likely, if you were sued, you''d just wind up in small claims court. In this case most judges will uphold your homemade contract. However, there are also general agreement forms that you can buy from places like OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, Staples, etc. If you''re worried about it then you may want to go check those out.

Of course if you''re planning on making A LOT of money, then you''ll need to hire a lawyer to draft it for you since you may end up in a higher court. Either way the contract is still legally binding if both parties sign it. However, if a lawyer does it then there will be far less chance of it being shown to be something that it is not by the prosecutor. This is because a lawyer would write it up in lawyer-speak (for lack of a better name), which is much harder to misconstrue as something other than it''s literal meaning.

You might also consider posting about this in the Business of Games section.

Steal their songs, and if they get mad, have them take you to court, but on one of those TV shows, like Judge Judy. Both parties get a check just for appearing on the show, and so you can give them $500 of some network''s money instead of yours, and everybody wins.

It isn''t a big deal. Ask them nicely to let you use their tunes for free, and if they want money, either offer them a share of the profits or else go crazy with lawyers and contracts and such. Or both. Actually, I think a Notary will be sufficient, and cheaper, to boot.

I should clarify that I''m not a lawyer and I haven''t taken any bar exams, nor is my major related to this in any way. However, I do contract work a lot so it''s the same type of thing. This applies to US only as far as I know.

When you do contract work, it is your responsibility to have a record of the money you pay them AND the service/product you recieve. On the other hand, it is their responsibility to make appropriate contributions to FICA and Social Security. I''m not sure what it is you must file, but there''s a form to file (i think it''s the 1099) that lists your expenses, such as from whom you get the service and what you were paid, that the IRS uses to ensure that your total is close to their''s. You do have to submit this and you do have to ensure that it''s properly filled out. Invoicing is your best friend here!

Any contract you write is legally binding up to a certain point. I believe if it''s small claims court, it is still legally binding; so if your total is above the small claims court amount for your district, then you MUST have a lawyer submit the contract. You can write it, but they have to review and authorize it. If you do write your own contract, you must be as explicit (to the point of unerringly stupid like noting the fact that you are the purchaser) as inhumanly possible (I say inhumanly because at the end of it all you should make them feel insulted by your contract because of the nuances). Denote exactly what it is you''re buying, the terms of copyright transfer, whether you''re leasing or purchasing, who owns the intellectual rights to the property, who owns the property itself, who owns the rights to license the property, who owns the right to modify or distribute it, whether you can trademark/servicemark the property, and about a billion other things. With the DMCA laws passing, you have to make sure to cover topics like reverse engineering and encryption too just in case. If you are licensing commercially, you really should under every circumstance hire a lawyer. If you do it often, hiring the regular services of a patent/copyright lawyer would be a more cost-effective way.

Lastly, it''s free to copyright something. Under the copyright act, you instantly copyright anything that you write, publish, or create. You can Register your copyright so that others cannot claim it was your''s and so that you have a stronger case against infringement (otherwise it''s your copyright date against their''s ). Registering is very expensive and often pointless. When you see (c), it means copyrighted, when you see (r) it means registered copyright.

quote: Original post by ShadowWolf
[...]
Lastly, it''s free to copyright something. Under the copyright act, you instantly copyright anything that you write, publish, or create. You can Register your copyright so that others cannot claim it was your''s and so that you have a stronger case against infringement (otherwise it''s your copyright date against their''s ). Registering is very expensive and often pointless. When you see (c), it means copyrighted, when you see (r) it means registered copyright.

Thanx Wolfy,
I was just about to comment on that, but you saved me some time...