Wording conditions of use

October 8, 2012 4:12 AM

Can anyone help me write some conditions of use for a book of my designs I need to lend to clients?

I need to lend clients books of my designs but want to have terms and conditions of use clearly marked on them to not allow any photocopying, scanning or photographing etc.
I have seen this before on similar books but can't remember the wording.
I want it to be in intimidating legaleeze. :)
thanks!

posted by soymilk to writing & language (2 answers total)

Docracy has a lot of free legal documents for (graphic) designers, you might find something there (more resources in this Smashing Magazine article).
posted by humph at 6:25 AM on October 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you and your borrower don't understand what the legaleeze means, then there's approximately zero chance it will do what you want, and a moderate chance it'll do something you don't want (and if it does, it'll probably do it expensively).

Lawyers use particular legalese for a couple of reasons: to show off the big words they know, and (more importantly) because particular words have a fairly precise legal definition that most lawyers and judges agree on. If you use one of those words, the assumption is that you mean that specific thing, which can save time (and legal fees) later if you end up arguing over the document.

If something is important to you and there's money or other rights at stake, it's really worth consulting a lawyer. And if not, you can at least get a read on whether you have a protectable interest in the first place (whether there's something that any sort of legalese can help you with.) And if it's not protectable, or if it's likely very expensive to try to protect, then you'll know that it doesn't really matter what you do, so there's no harm in picking some random legal document off the Internet, even though you don't exactly understand it.

IAAL, IANYL, TINLA.
posted by spacewrench at 7:26 AM on October 8, 2012