The drafting of a transfer of rights agreement has to be adapted to the needs of the project and to the parties' wishes. This is why we do not propose any standard agreement, but recommend consulting a specialised legal adviser according to the importance of the issues. The main difficulty raised by this kind of agreement is that of checking that the party which claims to be the author or beneficiary does in fact hold the rights referred to in the contract. For example, one company may be responsible for marketing a work in France and another in Italy. It is advisable to make sure that the author or the beneficiary concluding the contract can actually assign the rights relating to the work which is the subject of the contract.
Caution is also necessary if several authors created the work.
The latter will therefore often constitute the beneficiary in the transfer of rights agreement. If in doubt, it is advisable to consult one or more authors' societies which in most cases will be able to provide reliable information about the author and beneficiaries. It can also be expedient to indicate the reasons that lead the recipient to ask for, and the author or the beneficiary to give permission to use the work. In the event of a dispute, it will enable a judge to understand their motives more easily. Describing the purpose of the agreement can prevent the contract from being reclassified as another type of agreement, for example in the event of dispute.