A few months ago, a researcher contacted my brother, Jeff, and me about interviews my dad had conducted for his book The Last Jews in Berlin, originally published in 1982. He wanted to use one particular set of interviews for a book he’s helping another author with. He was willing to pay.
Did we even have those tapes? It took a while to ascertain that we had at least four squirreled away in Dad’s files.
Next, we had to figure out how to transfer the audio on the cassettes to MP3 files that could be emailed. The sound was so faint that I had one of the MP3s transcribed to make sure it was viable.
“I’ll send the letter of agreement,” the researcher said after we agreed to the fee he’d offered.
Finding the tapes had been hard enough, but the letter brought me to a full stop.
That’s what happens when someone is asking me to indemnify someone else, as well as to provide permission to use “relevant passages from the book.”
I wound up consulting Creative Law Center attorney Kathryn Goldman. Good thing.
Since Dad is not the sole copyright holder on The Last Jews in Berlin (Simon & Schuster also is registered as a copyright claimant), permission to use “relevant passages from the book” was not ours to give.
One issue down, one to go.
In addition, it turns out that who actually owns the rights to taped interviews is a complicated issue. While my brother and I could warrant that the author could use the interviews Dad had conducted since we had possession of them, we could not warrant ownership of the rights that might be held by the person being interviewed or their family. Which absolutely affected that indemnification language in the letter of agreement.
I communicated as much and took a stab at drafting a revision to that part of the agreement using the wording suggested by the attorney I had consulted with.
That letter of agreement came back two or three times without the wording I had suggested.
I sent it back each time until it was right.
Bottom line?
No shortcuts when it comes to a letter of agreement–or any other legal matter.
Consult an attorney, and re-read and revise any letters of agreement before you sign.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.