Hi there, sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find a thread about this.

How would I go about protecting my SFX that I'm making freelance for a game. I usually work with a group of people I know and trust, but have
recently taken up some free lance jobs and want to know how I can make sure my sounds are my property, in case the teams I'm free lancing
for turn out to be unscrupulous.

Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi there, sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find a thread about this.

How would I go about protecting my SFX that I'm making freelance for a game. I usually work with a group of people I know and trust, but have
recently taken up some free lance jobs and want to know how I can make sure my sounds are my property, in case the teams I'm free lancing
for turn out to be unscrupulous.

Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

I am not a lawyer, but they exist! Get legal counsel. Draw up a legally binding contract that indicates specifically:
*what they owe you for the sounds
*what you promise to provide
*who owns the rights to what after the contract is fulfilled (are you selling sounds? or licensing them?)
Then get all parties to sign and agree to the document.

You also need to keep a proper paper trail of your discussions of the work. That paper trail will be what you take to court in place of a contract in attempt to justify your-word-against-his. If you have the legal paperwork, the paper-trail will be used as justification of your fulfillment of your end of the contract.