Ask HN: What kind of contract do I need my contractor to sign?

4 points·rajacombinator··6 comments

So I just hired a 3rd party contractor for the first time via odesk. (If it matters, he is located in Asia, my company is in the US.) What kind of legal contract should I get him to sign to protect my rights to the work? Any templates out there I can use without paying a lawyer? :)

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I like the contracts in this book

http://www.nolo.com/products/contracts-ctrct.html

These cover most of the situations you'll end up in with business. You can probably do better if you hire a lawyer, but more than once I've talked with a judge about a contract written by a lawyer that had non-sequitors in it.

Thanks.

Rocket Lawyer's pretty good for basic contracts, and if your work's straightforward, you shouldn't need more than that: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/

Like logn said, you probably would struggle to sue someone in another country, so hopefully you've picked someone on odesk with decent reviews!

The oDesk terms of service do have clauses which give you ownership of the work done. Realistically, though, what are you going to do if he's in Asia? It's hard enough just suing someone in a different US state.

(not legal advice)

Oops guess I should have read those ToS for once. :) And I agree essentially with your other point, but mostly wanted to protect myself from being sued.

That makes sense. You might want to actually get a signature on paper to back up the oDesk contractor's agreement. Maybe a copyright assignment form? E.g., http://www.techrepublic.com/article/contracts-for-every-occa...

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