Practice Areas

Contracts

A well-drafted contract is a must to help ensure that your rights and interests are adequately protected. A contract also helps protect the relationship for the parties involved—whether a contract between two individuals, between an individual and a business, or between two businesses, contracts set clear expectations, provide legal protection, mitigate risk, provide security and accountability, protect sensitive information, and help resolve disputes. In addition to such benefits, using contracts establishes your professionalism and, whether you are an athlete, artist, or brand, establishing yourself as a professional—no matter what stage you are at—will help you succeed.

See below in the “Clients” section for some of the common contracts for you: athlete, artist, or brand.

Intellectual Property

Whether you are an athlete, artist, or brand, important intellectual property considerations are everywhere—both to ensure that your intellectual property rights are adequately protected and to ensure that you are not infringing on the intellectual property rights of another. Intellectual property—through copyrights and/or trademarks—also provide numerous benefits including but not limited to protection of your creative work, increased control, monetization and revenue opportunities, enforcement of your rights, brand protection, and maximizing your and your brand’s value.

See below in the “Clients” section for some of the specific intellectual property considerations for you: athlete, artist, or brand.

Entity Formation + Governance

Whether you are an individual athlete or artist, a collection of athletes or artists, or a brand and business, you are functionally running a business and operating under and through an entity can provide massive benefits for you and your career. Among other things, operating under a business entity helps provide a certain level of liability protection, can have tax benefits, helps better manage income, adds an air of professionalism and credibility, can facilitate brand growth and protection, and can streamline partnership and investment opportunities. While some of these benefits might not seem applicable to you given where you are in your career, even athletes, artists, and brands who are just getting started need to consider the liability protection benefits of an entity to help protect your personal and professional assets.

See below in the “Clients” section for specific entity formation considerations for you: athlete, artist, or brand.

Clients

Athletes

Although Salis Legal specializes in working with action sports athletes, we have the capability to work with athletes in any sport.

Contract Services. Some of the common contracts for athletes include sponsorship agreements, endorsement deals, appearance agreements, licensing agreements, media and content agreements, event contracts, agency or athlete representation agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and many others.

Intellectual Property Services. Some of the intellectual property considerations specific to athletes include protection of your Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), possible trademark protection of your name, logo, slogan, or brand, IP provisions in negotiating sponsorship and endorsement deals, licensing and merchandising, content creation and ownership, and many others.

Entity Formation + Governance Services. Athletes should consider operating under an entity to protect your personal assets from business-related liabilities, avail yourself of certain tax benefits such as potential deductions for travel, equipment, and coaching expenses, signal to potential sponsors that you manage your career as a business, to protect and manage your IP, and various other reasons.

Let Salis Legal assist you with all of the above.

Artists

Contract Services. Some of the common contracts for artists include commission agreements for commissioned artwork, licensing agreements allowing others to use your artwork, exhibition and gallery contracts, publishing agreements, collaboration agreements for working with other creatives, recording and distribution agreements, endorsement and sponsorship agreements, work-for-hire agreements, merchandising agreement, non-disclosure agreements, and many others.

Intellectual Property Services. The intellectual property considerations for an artist are extensive but include securing copyrights for your original works, registering and protecting your trademarks, ensuring appropriate IP protection in licensing agreements and other contracts, enforcing your IP rights to avoid waiver or abandonment of such rights, defining use rights in collaborations, and many others.

Entity Formation + Governance Services. Artists should consider operating under an entity to protect your personal assets from business-related liabilities, avail yourself of certain tax benefits such as potential deductions for travel, equipment, and continuing education, signal to clients that you run a professional operation, to protect and manage your IP, and various other reasons.

Brands

Contract Services. For brands operating in the outdoor industry, it is likely that you will need to utilize many of the same contracts used by athletes and artists. Other common contracts used by brands and businesses may include hiring contracts such as employment agreements and independent contractor agreements, partnership agreements, non-disclosure agreements, service agreements with vendors and suppliers, sales contracts, franchise agreements, distribution agreements, terms of use and privacy policies, and many others.

Intellectual Property Services. Like athletes and artists, brands and businesses must also consider intellectual property for a number of reasons and from varying perspectives. Most obviously, brands and businesses need to take steps to ensure that their name, logo, and slogan have appropriate trademark protection. Additionally, brands and businesses must ensure that their marketing and advertising, branding, and packaging do not infringe on similar trademarks. Brands and businesses must also consider copyrights with respect to the creation or use of creative works.

Entity Formation + Governance Services. Brands and businesses need a strong foundation from which to grow and operate, and entity formation and governance considerations are the most foundational pieces. We assist brands and businesses with this process by determining the appropriate entity type, drafting and filing all legal documents, helping ensure protection of ownership interests, establishing governance structures, helping ensure ongoing compliance, and assisting with future growth planning.