Legal schmeagal:

How to read a contract,

protect yourself and ask for

what you want

Cathryn Nolan, NolanLegal (www.nolanlegal.com.au)

(Un-) Conference 2014@nolanlegal https://www.facebook.com/nolanlegalau

Let’s start with the hard stuff

Brace yourselves: I’m going to use the

“C” word

CONSIDERATION!

Money Matters

A lot

And at the same time, not as much as other things

We value what we can measure – we can count

and compare

Most people have some kind of issues around

money – do you know what yours are?

Negotiating

Isn’t only for the adversarial and hostile

You can be liked and still ask for what you want

(in fact, you can be liked and get what you

want)

Using agents and advisers can remove the

‘personal’ elements

Asking for what you want …

Is harder for some than for others

Necessarily requires you to know what you want

… and to have some understanding of / belief in

what you’re worth

Involves risking learning that someone else doesn’t

value what you’ve got (or just can’t afford it)

Ask yourself:

What do you value?

What do they value?

What’s easy for you to do?

What’s easy for them to get?

What do you have that’s

unique?

What unique needs to they

have?

So how do you prepare?

Value

Licence or assignment?

TimeContext

Costs

Other opportunities

There’s no one answer;

Get advice

Too much information is not enough…..

… but don’t spend so long planning that you don’t start a conversation

BATNA: The best alternative to negotiating an agreement

“Best alternative to a negotiated agreement” –your bottom line (or the buyers ‘top line’)

Ambit – your best and biggest dream? The buyer’s dream price? The best possible result?

Seller’s Ambit

Seller’s BATNA

Buyer’s BATNA

Buyer’s Ambit

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Negotiation – Price, Exclusivity, time

commitments, up front payments,

timing of payments, permitted uses etc

How do you find your bottom line?

List out the alternatives

Evaluate each of them

Which has the highest value for you? This is your BATNA

What’s your ‘bottom line’? These are the terms (not only price) without which it’s not worth it.

ZOPA: the zone of potential agreement

“Zone of potential

agreement” – the room that

you have to make an

agreement where both

parties will be happy

Identifying the ZOPA means

you need to identify the

other party’s BATNA

Seller’s AMBIT

Seller’s BATNA

Buyer’s BATNA

Buyer’s Ambit

ZOPA

There is no one size fits all solution …..

Make a checklist of what’s important to you – and what you think

might be important to them

Think about opportunities to draw out what’s really important – two

equally appealing options to you might not be equally appealing to

the other party

Money is not the only consideration – time, exclusivity, location,

collaboration……

You need bargaining power to negotiate – you won’t always have it

Even when you can’t negotiate, you need to understand the deal

you’ve entered into

Some useful resources

www.artslaw.com.au – Arts Law Centre of Australia: Australia’s independent

national community legal centre for the arts, a not-for-profit company limited by

guarantee. It provides free or low cost specialised legal advice, education and

resources to Australian artists and arts organisations across all art forms, on a wide

range of arts related legal and business matters.

www.creativecommons.org.au – Creative Commons provides copyright licenses

to facilitate sharing and reuse of creative content

Collections Agencies – eg. Copyright Agency / Viscopy www.copyright.com.au ,

APRA | AMCOSS www.apra-amcos.com.au , Phonographic Performance

Company of Australia (PPCA) www.ppca.com.au