PR / Agency Law question

stateofflux

Hi i just have a quick question..

i hired a PR Company to get press / radio exposure in the uk... the reports he is giving me are very vague and he is not telling me the actual people he is dealing with just the name of of the publications....can i demand he give me a list of the actual people? as otherwise ive no proof that he's doing his job or that he even sent anything around on my behalf....

any help is appreciated

Tom Young

Yes. Ask for a call sheet. PR agencies usually retain same in order to bill you for the work they do on your behalf.

stateofflux

Thanks a million for the advice

stateofflux

he has just given me a list of names... would i have any rights to demand contact emails as well?

thanks again for the help...:)

Tom Young

Well, you might ask for dates and times of the contacts and responses. PR agencies are like law firms the way they bill. They know who, what and when matters arose and record same.

If you are not trusting them you might not get a solid answer either from the prospective media contact, as many in the media game reject PR pitches out of hand and pretty quickly based on editorial or other policies in place!

Tom

stateofflux

ok thanks Tom....i kind or thought i would'nt be able to get a list of phone numbers and emails as well as names.,....

stateofflux

just one more thing....if it does transpire that i suspect a breach...is it a uk legal issue? (as pr is based in london)..or an irish one?.

i had an agreement that he service 110 publications which i think he has'nt done.... if i can prove this would it be worth approaching small claims?(as pr cost less than 1000 i think anything further would be too expensive)

thanks

kyle

NOIMAGINATION

stateofflux wrote: »

just one more thing....if it does transpire that i suspect a breach...is it a uk legal issue? (as pr is based in london)..or an irish one?.

i had an agreement that he service 110 publications which i think he has'nt done.... if i can prove this would it be worth approaching small claims?(as pr cost less than 1000 i think anything further would be too expensive)

thanks

kyle

This should be set out in the contract - I would suspect if you signed their contract then the terms would be covered under English Law - Most English companies will insist on this

stateofflux

ok thanks for the help

Ad Idem

Have a look at your contract. It may have a choice of forum/jurisdiction clause. If so and it is an English company it will probably say that the Courts of England will have jurisdiction to determine the matter.

The choice of law clause doesn't determine where the dispute will be litigated. It just determines the law that will be applied by the Court. For example a contract could have a jurisdiction clause stating that the Courts of Ireland will have jurisdiction to hear the case and it could have a choice of law clause saying that the law of England will apply. Therefore the Irish Courts will hear the case and the Irish judge will use English law.

Notwithstanding the above it may be the case that there is an arbitration and/or mediation and/or concilliation clause which may (depending on the contract) be the primary method of dealing with the dispute.

If there is no clause dealing with jurisdiction a claim may be made in Ireland under the Brussels Regulation if Ireland is the place of performance of the obligation in question. See article 5(1)(b) of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:012:0001:0023:EN:PDF