GRP Contract Form
About GRPContractForm
GRPContractForm is a contract form created with the aim to define creative and open collaboration frameworks. The idea is to establish environments comparable to so-called “open-source codes”, and make them available to a broad audience to use, modify, and/or create derivative works. The purpose of this form is to facilitate projects in which art centers invite artists and technologists in the field of media art to carry out joint research on cutting-edge topics in a residency style, and encourage further development and derivation of the resulting products by making them openly available. One may consider the form as a source code for a framework for this kind of project. This form is published under a Creative Commons license(*). Within the scope of the license, users are free to arrange or fork products to fit their respective projects. Requests for updates on Github are also welcome.
(*)Creative Commons (CC) licenses are copyright licenses for creative works. There is controversy as to whether a contract can fall under copyright licenses. Considering the importance of the fact that the contract form and related information are to be broadly shared as a new collaboration framework for media art, the contract as part of this project can be published under a Creative Commons (CC) license.
Development History
2013.3 Ver.1 released
2014.9 Ver.2 released in response to the following (MEDIA/ART KITCHEN YAMAGUCHI):
-Environments for multiple Collaborators to simultaneously engage in research/development (Attribution of Rights Relating to Development Results)
-Regulations regarding the application of CC0 for released data (Publication of Works, Open-Source Licensing)
-Reference to Guidelines
-Regulations for handling material Development Results the ownership of which has been attributed to the Host (Attribution of Rights Relating to Material Development Results)
-Addition of terminological definition clauses (Definitions)
-Various additions/modifications regarding notation related to: compensation (from tax excluded to tax included) (Payment of Commission), tax exemption (Procedure for Tax Exemption), regulations for publication (Publication of Works, Open-Source Licensing)
-Notational modifications (changing “Researcher” to “Collaborator”; adding “increase of creativity” to “Purpose”; changing “Warranty etc.” to “Warranty”)
2016.2 license updated
Special Features of this Contract Form
This form was created based on an actual contract used for the implementation of YCAM Interlab Guest Research Project (GRP), between YCAM and artists / technologists. In addition to regulating research contents, residency periods, costs, and other general issues related to joint research and residency projects, this particular contract also contains regulations for publishing and improving the efficiency of resulting products. Specified here are, for example, the handling of rights, publishing licenses and methods, as well as credits and maintenance details. As this form assumes the invitation of guest researchers from other countries, it contains items related to the necessary international administrative procedures (such as visa and tax issues), insurance, and international transport. The aim is to establish partnerships based on fair relationships between hosts and guest researchers.
Through the implemention of a YCAM Interlab Guest Research Project (GRP) framework, we learned that a seriously formulated contract helps to strengthen the relationships of mutual trust between art centers and artists / technologists, and increase the efficiency of research and development. We also think that a contract is very similar to a program code, and are seeing great potential in mixture of both. In other words, contracts for joint research or commissioned work have a big effect on eventual creation, whereas the contracts for realizing such collaboration frameworks can be developed in cooperation just like program codes. Open source development and collaborations have gathered much attention and more people realized the importance of it. We hope that the publication of this form will help to develop frameworks for contemporary forms of creative work.
Use Case
Guest Research Project vol.2 – Composition tools for Generative Media
YCAM InterLab + Yoko Ando Joint Research and Development Project “Reactor for Awareness in Motion
Usage
GRPContractForm is available on GitHub. GRPContractForm is published and developed on Github that is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that anyone can participate in development or work of a derivative. Parts in brackets ([ ]) are to be adapted to each specific contract. Furthermore, as this contract is merely a basic model, other items may require modifications/arrangements to fit the respective project. For more details, please refer to the MANUAL.
Licenses and Credits
GRP Contract Form Produced by the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Planned and developed by YCAM InterLab, Supervised by Tasuku Mizuno (Creative Commons Japan, Attorney at Law), Supported by Dominick Chen (Creative Commons Japan) GRP Contract Form is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 
GRP Contract Form is licensed under a Creative Commons [Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International] license (hereinafter referred to as “This License”). In accordance with Section 8.c. of This License, We expressly waive the terms and rights pertinent to the [Attribution] stipulated under Section 3.a. of This License. Therefore, the users may also use or share GRP Contract Form without giving appropriate credit such as the right holder’s name, the title of the work, the URI, or these links.
For use at an event, please modify the GRP Contract Form as needed, and publish the respective results under the same license. In the case of secondary use, please fork the GRP Contract Form on GitHub, and indicate derivations and right-holders’ names whenever possible.
Disclaimer
YCAM makes no guarantees whatsoever related to this text. The persons involved in the creation/operation of this website (including other users) take no responsibility regarding the usage of this text (including any kind of use such as browsing, contribution, or external re-use; the same shall apply hereinafter).When using this text, you are required to take personal responsibility. YCAM takes no responsibility regarding eventual damage resulting from your use of this text. YCAM does not guarantee that your use of this text is legitimate according to applicable laws. We don’t guarantee in any way the legitimacy, accuracy and safety of all information provided as contents. We make no guarantees regarding external website linked to from this site. This text permits alteration or reuse based on the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, however it does not permit forms of reuse that violate laws or other regulations. The use of images accompanying the text may be based on license agreements separate from the respective text licenses. YCAM may discontinue the publication of all or parts of this text and all other contents without prior notice.
