mwa opened this issue on Dec 06, 2001 ยท 21 posts
kelley posted Sat, 22 December 2001 at 3:07 AM
Shadowcat has got it right...you have to make a deal that covers your investment of time and effort. If YOU are happy, take it. I have always taken the attitude of "Wot th' hell, it's not the last idea I'm ever going to have. Sell the picture/idea." On the other hand, I once had a friend that was so incensed that he wasn't reaping 85% of the profits that he usually refused to deal with anyone and settled for 100% of nothing.
You have to realize that there are no real guidelines in this sort of thing. There are only deals. As I understand it, from comments above, you're working with medical models. Correct? As opposed to, let us say, characters in fiction. If you sold the exclusive rights to "XYZ Hero" in fiction, it's gone for good. (Sort of. See below) But if you've modeled something in the medical world (a human part?) you can sell it off and build a version of the model again. Nobody can copyright a pancreas.
As a general rule, I have found that if ANYONE says "exclusive rights", they want it pretty bad and your position is good. The response is then: "What will you give me?" Ask for the moon. You can always bargain down easier than you can bargain up.
Still and all, there's more to this game than can be laid out in an single e-mail response. If your models are that close to your heart...get a lawyer. And do not, as advised above, offer the lawyer a percentage. This is not a 'personal injury' case. Ask the buyer for a contract stipulating the end use and your payment for it. If they want 'exclusive rights', ask for a royalty on sales, or usage(i.e.,number of times to be printed in a magazine/ or number of magazines. This means you can't sell the same model/image to anyoune else, but they pay for continued use) The lawyer will advise you 'yea or nay' on whether it's a good deal. If 'nay', the lawyer will fire off a reply telling the buyer that he's a thief. Get the lawyer fee stated up front.
But in the end, remember...it's a poker game and only victory counts.