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CEO + Co-Founder @In-House Connect, I help In-House Counsel Connect w/Peers + Thought Leaders I Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱
Sorry but... why does this keep happening?? Don't you know that we are going to ask for the contract in word format EVERY TIME!
Interesting viewpoint...whenever I send out a contract to book any of the artists that I represent, I always send a PDF and then we discuss the need for revisions from there, and then I make any changes (that we mutually agree to) from there. I've never had anyone complain or express a concern, but it's good to hear this perspective.
So I used to get bent out of shape about it. So now, I convert the pdf to word, redline the document, and send it back. If they've really annoyed me, I'll pdf my redlined document and then send it.😁
I think it depends on the circumstances - when it’s my contract, it’s perfectly reasonable to send a PDF & expect no changes; when it’s your contract, I expect a Word doc 😂. In all seriousness, I think it’s already been said but many companies prefer to handle changes in amendments or side letters to their standard documents for easier tracking, that way operations folks don’t have to go digging through the contract for special terms. And sometimes, depending on the product, terms are simply non-negotiable.
If the idea is, as many have expressed, that sending a PDF is a way to communicate that no changes are accepted, and if that is actually true, then that discussion should have been had a long time ago at the beginning of the business negotiation. Your customer/client/potential business partner should not be finding that out after they send the document to their lawyer (which is, unfortunately, often pretty late in the game).
This is industry specific. In entertainment, hand comments are still quite common, and some companies send you a scan of a PDF (specifically so you can’t even convert it).
💯 x a bajillion
PDF, password protected or Word with edits restricted. I like to be easy to work with 😜
Award Winning In-House Counsel | Founder of Contract Nerds 📝 🤓 | Author of Contract Redlining Etiquette | Keynote Speaker & In-House Trainer
2w😂 or just convert it to Word ourselves!