How to write my CD-ROM Development Contract (US) document
THIS AGREEMENT is made this Current Day day of Current Month, Current Year by and between Company Name ("Developers") and Company Name ("Customer"). Developers have experience and expertise in the development of multimedia. Digital media, graphic design, computer programming, web sites and CD-ROM presentations.
Multimedia created by Developers includes: CD-ROMs, web sites, computer programming, flash animations, graphics and other multimedia created or licensed by Developers. Customer desires to have Developers develop multimedia for them. Developers desire to develop the Customer's Presentation on the terms and conditions set forth herein (the "Presentation").
In consideration of the mutual covenants set forth in this Agreement, Customer and Developers hereby agree as follows:
Development of Presentation
Developers agree to develop the Presentation according to the terms and specifications set forth on Exhibit B attached hereto.
Specifications
Developers agree to develop the Presentation pursuant to the specifications set forth in Exhibit B attached hereto (the "Specifications").
Delivery of Presentation
Developers will use reasonable diligence in the development of the Presentation and endeavor to deliver to Customer a Presentation no later than 60 days after all required media has been received from Customer. Customer acknowledges, however, that this delivery deadline, and the other payment milestones listed in Exhibit A, are estimates, and are not required delivery dates.
Ownership Rights
Developers shall hold all right, title, and interest in and to the Presentation. Specifically, but without limitation, Developer shall hold all right, title, and interest in and to (1) all text, graphics, animation, audio components, and digital components of the Presentation (the "Content"), (2) all interfaces, navigational devices, menus, menu structures or arrangements, icons, help and other operational instructions, and all other components of any source or object computer code that comprises the Presentation, (3) all literal and nonliteral expressions of ideas that operate, cause, create, direct, manipulate, access, or otherwise affect the Content, and (4) all copyrights, patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual or industrial property rights in the Presentation or any component or characteristic thereof. Customer shall not do anything that may infringe upon or in any way undermine Developers' right, title, and interest in the Presentation, as described in this Paragraph 4.
Notwithstanding the above, Customer shall retain all of its intellectual property rights in any text, images or other components it owns and transmits to Developers for use in the Presentation.
Compensation
For all of Developers' services under this Agreement, Customer shall compensate Developers, in cash, pursuant to the terms of Exhibit A attached hereto. In the event Customer fails to make any of the payments referenced in Exhibit A by the deadline set forth in Exhibit A, Developers have the right, but are not obligated, to pursue any or all of the following remedies: (1) terminate the Agreement, (2) remove all web sites, hosting and tracking resources for Presentation, (3) bring legal action. (4) keep Customer's deposit and credit it towards development time and costs already incurred for the Presentation.
Confidentiality
Customer and Developers acknowledge and agree that the Specifications and all other documents and information related to the development of the Presentation (the "Confidential Information") will constitute valuable trade secrets of Developers. Customer shall keep the Confidential Information in confidence and shall not, at any time during or after the term of this Agreement, without Developers' prior written consent, disclose or otherwise make available to anyone, either directly or indirectly, all or any part of the Confidential Information. Excluded from the "Confidential Information" definition is anything that can be seen by the public on the Presentation when each page of the Presentation is first accessed.
Limited Warranty and Limitation on Damages
Developers warrant the Presentation will conform to the Specifications for a period of 30 days from the date of shipment by Developers. If the Presentation does not conform to the Specifications, Developers shall be responsible to correct the Presentation without unreasonable delay, at Developers sole expense and without charge to Customer, to bring the Presentation into conformance with the Specifications. This warranty shall be the exclusive warranty available to the Customer.
Customer waives any other warranty, express or implied. Customer acknowledges that Developers do not warrant that the Presentation will work on all platforms. Customer acknowledges that Developers are not responsible for the results obtained by the Customer on the Presentation.
Customer acknowledges that developers are not responsible for fixing problems on Presentations, once mass produced after Customer has tested, proofed and approved their Presentation. Customer waives any claim for damages, direct or indirect, and agrees that its sole and exclusive remedy for damages (either in contract or tort) is the return of the consideration paid to Developers as set forth in Exhibit A attached hereto.
Independent Contractor
Developers are retained as independent contractors. Developers will be fully responsible for payment of their own income taxes on all compensation earned under this Agreement. Customer will not withhold or pay any income tax, social security tax, or any other payroll taxes on Developers' behalf.
Developers understand that they will not be entitled to any fringe benefits that Customer provides for its employees generally or to any statutory employment benefits, including without limitation worker's compensation or unemployment insurance.
Equipment
Customer agrees to make available to Developers, for Developers' use in performing the services required by this Agreement, such items of hardware and software as Customer and Developers may agree are reasonably necessary for such purpose.
General Provisions
1 Entire Agreement
This Agreement contains the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any and all prior agreements or understandings, written or oral, between the parties related to the subject matter hereof. No modification of this Agreement shall be valid unless made in writing and signed by all of the parties hereto.
2 Governing Law
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of State. Exclusive jurisdiction and venue shall be in the County County, State Superior Court.
3 Binding Effect
This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of Customer and Developers and their respective successors and assigns, provided that Developers may not assign any of his obligations under this Agreement without Customer's prior written consent.
4 Waiver
The waiver by either party of any breach or failure to enforce any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement at any time shall not in any way affect, limit, or waive such party's right thereafter to enforce and compel strict compliance with every term and condition of this Agreement.
5 Good Faith
Each party represents and warrants to the other that such party has acted in good faith, and agrees to continue to so act, in the negotiation, execution, delivery, performance, and any termination of this Agreement.
6 Ownership of Photographs and Media
Developers may use some of their own photographs and other media for the Presentation. Developers' maintain ownership of the photographs and other media, and only grant Customer a non-exclusive right to use those photographs and media, and only on the Customer's Presentation.
7 No Right to Assign
Customer has no right to assign, sell, modify or otherwise alter the Presentation, except upon the express written advance approval of Developers, which consent can be withheld for any reason.
8 Right to Remove Presentation or Services
In the event Customer fails to make any of the payments set forth on Exhibit A within the time prescribed in Exhibit A, Developers have the right to demand payment in full, disable any tracking, hosting or other services provided to the Customer by Developers, whether covered under this agreement or not until such time that the account is paid in full.
9 Indemnification
Customer warrants that everything it gives Developers to put on the Presentation is legally owned or licensed to Customer. Customer agrees to indemnify and hold Developers harmless from any and all claims brought by any third party relating to any aspect of the Presentation, including, but without limitation, any and all demands, liabilities, losses, costs and claims including attorney's fees arising out of injury caused by Customer's products/services, material supplied by Customer, copyright infringement, and defective products sold via the Presentation.
10 Use of Presentation for Promotional Purposes
Customer grants Developers the right to use the Presentation for promotional purposes including public display, inclusion in Developers' marketing material and programs and/or to cross-link it with other marketing venues developed by Developers now or in the future.
11 No Responsibility for Theft
Developers have no responsibility for any third party copying, reverse engineering or improper use of any or all of the Presentation.
12 Right to Make Derivative Works
Developers have the exclusive rights in making any derivative works of the Presentation, source code or other methods or practices developed and employed by the Developers.
13 Attorney's Fees
In the event any party to this Agreement employs an attorney to enforce any of the terms of the Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover its actual attorney's fees and costs, including expert witness fees.
14 Identification of Developers
Customer agrees that Developers' logos and web links will be placed on the credits page of the Presentation. Customer also agrees to put on Developers' copyright notices on the Presentation and the relevant content therein.
15 No Responsibility for Loss
Including Platform Compatibility Issues or User Behavior. Developers make no representations or warranties whatsoever regarding Hardware or Software platform compatibility, "Y2K" issues, Operating System compatibility and/or any and all improper use of the Presentation by an end-user, individual or other third-party.
16 Transfer of Rights
In the event Developers are unable to continue maintenance of the Presentation non-exclusive rights to the object code version of the Presentation will be granted to Customer. Transfer of Rights does not apply to non-transferable third party licenses and proprietary Material owned by Developers.
17 Replication of CD-ROM's or other Digital Format
Customer must use Developer to replicate any additional Presentations produced on CD-ROM or other Digital Format (DVD, PAL, Video or otherwise).
18 Replication of Multimedia
Customer may not replicate any of the multimedia or artwork owned by Developer without the express written permission of Developer.
19 Cover Art
Customer agrees there may be differences in printed and screen proofs of artwork and screened artwork on final mass duplicated CD-ROMs.
20 Reverse Engineering
Customer may not decompile, deconstruct or otherwise reverse engineer the Presentation, whether in whole or in part, without the Developers' prior approval.
21 Final Approval
A final proof will be provided to Customer prior to mass production or replication and or release of any Digital Media and identified to the Customer as such. Customer assumes full responsibility to make sure that the final proof is correct in all capacities, including, but not limited to: grammar, spelling, information, content, artwork, copyright and functionality. Developers shall not be held responsible for errors and omissions.
22 Project Backups, Copies, or Source Maintenance
Developers shall only be responsible for maintaining backups, copies or other versions of any source or master files, whether developed by the Developers or not, for a period of one year from the date of this agreement. Customer agrees to hold the Developers harmless from any damage, loss of data, theft or other event that may occur to any photographs, source code, master or other digital files, digital media, print outs, documents or other Customer-owned material given to Developers during the course of this agreement. Customer may arrange, in writing, for developer copies to be maintained in escrow in the event developer goes out of business, cannot maintain copies of source or master files, or as otherwise required by the Customer.
23 Expiration of Services Related to Project
Any externally linked services provided by Developers that the CD-ROM may require, including but not limited to: tracking features, email hosting, forwarding, autoresponders, submission forms, general web hosting) expire one year from the date of this agreement. External services related to CD-ROMs and Presentations created by the Developers are not guaranteed to be fully functional in areas requiring access to Internet services after this date and may require an updated version be created at extra cost for updates and reduplication. Developers are not liable or responsible at any time for any damages resulting from any third-party services the CD-ROM or Presentation may use, or changes made to externally linked services that are not provided directly by Developers.
Developers will make every effort to test any third-party or externally linked resources that the Customer requires, and will present to the Customer proof that all externally linked services are present and in working condition prior to signoff and replication. Developers are not responsible for maintaining any of the data, features or reports that third-party services may provide.
Each party represents and warrants that, on the date first written above, they are authorized to enter into this Agreement in entirety and duly bind their respective principals by their signature below: