Contract Verbiage

> Below is a clause from my survey agreement.
> Recently I had a Client take exception to this clause.
> Do any of you have similar clauses? If so, have you had
> any issues?
>
> Thanks,
> Scott
>
> 9. OWNERSHIP OF DOCUMENTS. All plans, drawings, surveys or specifications prepared by FRESHWATERS pursuant to this agreement shall remain the property of FRESHWATERS and are instruments of service with respect to the project. Said documents are not intended or represented to be suitable for reuse by CLIENT or others for any purpose not set forth in this agreement. Any reuse without written authorization or adaption by FRESHWATERS for the specific purpose intended will be at CLIENT'S sole risk. CLIENT shall indemnify and hold harmless FRESHWATERS from all claims, damages, losses and expenses including attorney fees arising out of or resulting from the misappropriation and use of the documents.

You could just modify the NFL's copy-write notice such as:

This survey is copyrighted by [your companies name here] for the private use of our client. Any other use of this survey or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the survey without [your companies name here] consent, is prohibited.

Any time you ask someone to indemnify you, you raise fears, even -- perhaps especially -- if it's not clear in the reader's mind what they're being asked to do.

I offer no advice one way or the other. My standard letter contract is extremely simple -- basically "I'll do this, you'll do that, we can each end the deal with 30 days notice." So far it's worked fine.

Pretty similar to what I have in my Work Order document, but I have a little more in mine though.

Here, you might get away with that in the contract, but if you put a statement or symbol on your plat that limits it's reuse you could be risking your license. We just had a surveyor brought before the board for that grievous offense.

Below is what I have in my Work Order.

OWNERSHIP OF DOCUMENTS
All documents, including but not limited to, drawings, plans, plats, maps, field notes, computer printouts, computer disks, specifications and reports prepared by the PROFESSIONAL under this agreement, are the property of the PROFESSIONAL. They have or will be prepared for the specific use of the CLIENT for his designated employees, agents or subcontractors, in the connection with the performance of construction or development work upon the described real property. The said documents are not intended or represented to be suitable for reuse by the CLIENT or others on extensions of this project or other projects. In the event CLIENT shall use the stated documents or deliver the same to a third party for use upon extensions of this project, or other related or unrelated projects without first obtaining the written consent of the PROFESSIONAL, CLIENT agrees to indemnify PROFESSIONAL from any and all liability, loss or damage PROFESSIONAL may suffer as a result of claims, demands, costs, including reasonable attorneys fees or judgments against it arising from the above stated unauthorized use of the documents.
In no event, due to the possibility of modifications or alterations thereto, will the PROFESSIONAL furnish to CLIENT, his subcontractors, other professional or design professionals employed by him, a computer disk of any CAD Generated Drawings, Plans, Plats, Maps or other such documents. The PROFESSIONAL will furnish to CLIENT a paper (hardcopy) copy or copies of such Drawings, Plans, Plats, Maps or other such documents, excluding therefrom the furnishing of any computer printouts, computer disks and field notes. Each copy of said documents shall have on the face thereof the original sealed, dated and signed signature of the PROFESSIONAL. CLIENT understands that any photocopying, scanning or other means of reproduction of said documents for furnishing to third parties that do not bear the original (not photocopied) seal, date and signature of the PROFESSIONAL renders said documents null and void and shall terminate all liability of the PROFESSIONAL.
CLIENT further understands that the work conducted and resulting Drawings, Plans, Plats, Maps, Computer Printouts, Computer Disks, Field Notes or other supporting documents are a “WORK MADE FOR HIRE” and the OWNERSHIP OF A COPYRIGHT, IF AVAILABLE, VESTS IN THE PROFESSIONAL.

I certainly agree that paragraph is verbiage (defined as a tangle of excess language).

> 9. OWNERSHIP OF DOCUMENTS. All plans, drawings, surveys or specifications prepared by FRESHWATERS pursuant to this agreement shall remain the property of FRESHWATERS and are instruments of service with respect to the project. Said documents are not intended or represented to be suitable for reuse by CLIENT

I would not ask a client to agree with this. The documents are what I was hired for and what they need. Maybe you are doing different kind of surveying than I, but my clients need to "reuse" the documents with the building dept., Architect, Engineer, Realtor or someone.
But you have to do whatever you are comfortable with, the client should not drive the bus.

Arkansas Copyright Warning Letter

> Here, you might get away with that in the contract, but if you put a statement or symbol on your plat that limits it's reuse you could be risking your license. We just had a surveyor brought before the board for that grievous offense.

Here is 'the' letter that explains the situation. Note the testimony from Arkansas' GIS Officer.

DDSM:-O

I'm not sure I understand how that works. Almost every survey I do ends up in the public record. Anyone who wants to can run a copy of it and use the information. I don't care if they do, why would I want to stop them.

Contract Verbiage> Charles Dowdell

Now that's pretty wordy. Couldn't that be reduced substansially and still say the same thing?

Has there been an issue in your copany iwht unauthorized re-use of surveys?

I bet an attorney charged a ton for that paragraph, do you really put it on all your survey plans? That must eat up a pretty good chunk of space..

"CLIENT understands that any photocopying, scanning or other means of reproduction of said documents for furnishing to third parties that do not bear the original (not photocopied) seal, date and signature of the PROFESSIONAL renders said documents null and void and shall terminate all liability of the PROFESSIONAL."

Has this been testd in court? I have my doubbts about it holding up. What if the clients attorney photocopies the plan to include with thier brief? Now the surveyor had NO LIABILITY?

>documents are a “WORK MADE FOR HIRE” and the OWNERSHIP OF A COPYRIGHT, IF AVAILABLE, VESTS IN THE PROFESSIONAL.

Did you leave out a NOT ? I'd suggest you research the meaning of the term "Work Made for Hire", as I think your last sentence is a contradiction.

Is this practice of copywriting survey data becoming more common? I ask because my experience in the private sector is limited. One of our local surveyors is a big proponent of copywriting mortgage asbuilts and things like that which don't get recorded. Anything recorded would be public information, no? I can see how one would not want to incur a liability for an authorized use of a surveyor's product for which they have not been compensated. On the other hand turning off a client with a barage of legalese and limitations in a contract doesn't seem altogether endearing either.

I'm trying to bone up on this contract business since at some point I'd like to do private sector work, preferably without having to learn some lessons the hard way.

Taking notes.

Wow, that seems to be a stretch.

Now the surveyor stating something along the lines of "not to be used in a G.I.S." may be ineffective, but I don't see how a copyright statement of some kind (or even the symbol) should be made illegal to have on your plat.

There are many legal uses that a copyrighted plat could be put to without having to request permission. If you are in a recording state, I would expect that the hosting of the submitted plat on a website or incorporation in the GIS would fall under legal use of the survey. Once placed on public record, there are probably many uses that would be legal.

Arkansas Copyright Warning Letter

> > Here, you might get away with that in the contract, but if you put a statement or symbol on your plat that limits it's reuse you could be risking your license. We just had a surveyor brought before the board for that grievous offense.
>
> Here is 'the' letter that explains the situation. Note the testimony from Arkansas' GIS Officer.
>
> DDSM:-O
>
>

I heard that the Florida Board tried coming down hard on someone who was qualifying the use of his survey. I heard that they ended up backing off. I think it was the surveyor or his attorney was arguing that it was his 1st amendment right to state the proper use of his survey. I guess the Florida Board didn't want get dragged into that argument, so they let it go.

The Bow Tie Surveyor

Here is our note. I would think federal copyright law would trump Arkansas board...but maybe not.

A couple of years ago I looked into copyright as it applied to ALTA surveys, as I found one of mine being reused as a base for design plans without my permission. After doing some research, I reluctantly concluded that a boundary or topographic survey isn't copyrightable.

No Jim,he boundary and the topo may not be copyrightable (is that a word?), but I do not believe they can use your plan with your name on it and re-submit it w/o your consent.

> but I do not believe they can use your plan with your name on it and re-submit it w/o your consent.

I agree, but the infraction would be something like fraud rather than copyright infringement.