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Retail deal

Questions to ask a lawyer about a retail or distribution deal

Dealing with a retail or distribution deal? Describe it in your own words, and Tellbrief turns your answers into a short brief with the questions worth asking and the records to have ready, so your first call with a lawyer starts further ahead.

For example: A retailer’s terms on the table, a contract manufacturer, a brand name and claims on the label. A brief for this founder suggests the lists below.

Questions worth asking

  1. What should we look for in the retailer’s or distributor’s terms before we sign?
  2. Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made?Under U.S. copyright law, a contractor owns the copyright in what they make unless it falls in one of nine narrow categories with a signed agreement, or they sign it over in writing.1,2
  3. What should our agreement with the manufacturer or supplier cover?
  4. Is our name clear to use and register where we sell?
  5. Can we back up the claims we make about results, health, safety or performance?

Records to have ready

  • Terms from retailers or distributorsYou sell, or plan to sell, through someone else.
  • Your agreement with your manufacturer or supplierSomeone else makes or supplies your product.
  • Trademark searches, filings or registrationsYour brand name is part of this.
  • Anything showing contributors signed over their workIt’s unclear whether the company owns everything it uses.

Your brief builds its own lists from your answers.

Build your own brief

About 30 questions, most of them one tap. No account and no card during early access. Tellbrief isn’t a law firm and doesn’t give legal advice.

Start your brief

Questions founders ask

What questions should I ask a lawyer about a retail or distribution deal?

For the founder in this example, the brief suggests: What should we look for in the retailer’s or distributor’s terms before we sign? Does the company own what contractors and early contributors made? What should our agreement with the manufacturer or supplier cover? Is our name clear to use and register where we sell? Can we back up the claims we make about results, health, safety or performance? Your own brief builds its list from your answers.

What should I have ready before the first call?

For this example: Terms from retailers or distributors; Your agreement with your manufacturer or supplier; Trademark searches, filings or registrations; Anything showing contributors signed over their work. Your own brief lists what fits your answers.

Is this legal advice?

No. Tellbrief organizes your information so the first conversation with your lawyer starts further ahead. It isn’t a law firm, and using it doesn’t make anyone your lawyer. Legal advice comes from a licensed lawyer, once they agree to take on your matter.

What does it cost?

Your brief is free during early access, with no card and no account. If you’d like Jordan to take on the work, he reads your answers first, then talks through the scope and his fee with you before any work starts. Tellbrief takes no share of it.

How long does it take?

About 30 questions once the names are cleared, and most take one tap. Plan on 10 to 15 minutes.

Other situations

  1. 17 U.S.C. § 101, “work made for hire” (opens in a new tab).
  2. 17 U.S.C. § 204(a) (opens in a new tab). Sources 5 and 7–11 are from the Cornell Legal Information Institute. General information, not legal or tax advice.

What’s in your brief

One page that sums up your situation, then every answer you gave. It’s yours to keep and to take to any lawyer.

  1. The basics at a glance: what the business is, its stage, whether it’s formed and where it sells. Plus what’s changing, in one line.
  2. Your question for your lawyer, plus a few more worth asking, picked from your answers.
  3. Records to have ready, based on your answers. Send them only if your lawyer asks.
  4. Every answer you gave, grouped by topic. The reviewing lawyer also gets a private note on where to look first.

Open a sample brief (opens in a new tab) PDF · made-up company