Usability and User Experience Resources
Idea Market Afterthoughts 2005

Legal Issues of Import to Technical Communication Professionals

Activator: Christopher Juillet

Discussion Topics

• Contracts
• Insurance
• Business Entities
• Liability Protection
• Employment Issues
• Intellectual Property

Overview

A small but engaged group participated in discussions covering a range of legal topics relevant to technical communication professionals, including limiting liability when providing clients with OEM manuals that those clients plan to modify; ensuring that companies maintain ownership of materials produced by student interns who are unpaid for their efforts; limiting liability to STC chapters and chapter leaders by purchasing director’s insurance and meeting insurance policies; and ensuring access to the financial resource to continue a business enterprise when one of the key stakeholders dies unexpectedly. Please note that the discussions covered United States law and are not intended to address international law or the laws of other countries.

OEM Manuals

Question Presented: When a company (“Company A”) develops technical documentation that clients (“Company B”) will later modify prior to shipment to their own clients (“End Users”), how can Company A limit its liability for those modifications?

Discussion: Starting from the premise that each of us is liable for our own misdeeds, but that anyone in the development chain will likely be sued by a damaged party, the initial question becomes one of how Company A can control what Company B does and avoid liability for Company B’s misdeeds. The answer is, of course, that Company A cannot easily control Company B’s actions. Company B is a client, and the clear intent is that these materials will be modified by Company B to suit its own needs.

A good place to start, however, is for Company A to insist on contract language that requires Company B to “defend, indemnify and hold harmless” Company A for any modifications that Company B makes to the materials delivered by Company A. With such contract language in place, Company A is protected from the costs of law suits brought by End Users against all developers for mistakes that cause damages to the End Users. While such language may not act as a shield to prevent legal actions, it will provide Company A with a valuable legal weapon should it end up in court.