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April 1, 2020Buck McKinney

Attachment D - Movie Synchronization and Performing Rights License

An example of a license to a motion picture. This is document 5 of 6 of Creating the Sound of Our Lives.

April 1, 2020Buck McKinney

Attachment E - Synchronization License for Copyrighted Works

This is a synchronization license for a copyrighted work. This is document 6 of 6 of Creating the Sounds of Our Lives.

November 7, 2019Erin Hudson

A Litigator's Perspective on Contract Provisions in Commercial Transactions

This article should serve as a reminder of the types of issues that can develop if things go south after your clients have signed on the dotted line. Every time you draft a contract, you are potentially drafting Exhibit Number 1 in a litigation (or arbitration if you thoughtfully crafted an arbitration provision). Make it easy for your client and its litigation counsel to convince a court and jury that the contract clearly says what they claim it says by making the contract easy to follow, stripping away the legalese, and eliminating the need to reference multiple pages to understand the parties’ obligations. Also, resist the temptation to skim over those miscellaneous clauses at the end of your otherwise perfectly drafted contract. These clauses can have a tremendous impact if a dispute arises. Pay as close attention to the miscellaneous provisions as you do to the substantive provisions of the contract.

March 15, 2018David R. Keyes

How To Interpret a Complex Business Contract

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a methodology for interpreting a complex business contract (or any contract, for that matter) by interpreting it as a whole, rather than solely by seizing upon certain language within the contract. This paper assumes that the reader has from law school and legal practice become familiar with basic principles of contract formation, drafting and interpretation. An easy-to-read and excellent resource book on these topics is Charles M. Fox, WORKING WITH CONTRACTS: WHAT LAW SCHOOL DOESN’T TEACH YOU (Practicing Law Institute (2nd ed. 2008), available inexpensively at Amazon.com and from numerous other sources. The author illustrates the process by reference to a hypothetical, complex business transaction in which an existing contract places many restrictions on the ability of a party to that contract to do other transactions (directly or through its subsidiaries), including the hypothetical transaction. The task is to identify the salient contractual provisions in the existing, restrictive contract, interpret it as a whole, and reach conclusions regarding the intent of the parties to the restrictive contract. The purpose of the task is to determine whether or not a proposed new transaction would be permitted.