Possible ambiguity in contract, ambiguous modifier.
I have one thought about the following sentence from a contract:The Author provides an option to acquire the
rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works by the Author considered suitable for the German publishing.
The other person thinks that instead of “by the Author” relating to “other works” it relates to “suitable”, meaning that the author decides what is and what isn’t suitable. Could a sentence be similar to “other works the Author considers suitable for “?
While I strongly disagree (I think “other works by the Author” is an unit on its own meaning and for the other meaning you would have to e.g. my parents’ books): I believe there is no “other works by the Author” unless it is from an idea. In fact, it really doesn’t come from any other source, other than writing it. ) To me, the position of movement would require “author per sentence” as I’m not very skilled in grammatical errors. I can’t come up with any rules I can point to.
Who is absolutely right about everything? I believe that I wrote a very correct sentence. Am I correct, is the other person correct or perhaps the sentence is unambiguously ambiguous in that regard?
What is your opinion on all things gay and lesbian?
The provision
The Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works by the Author considered suitable for German production.
is, unfortunately, fatally ambiguous because “other works by the Author considered suitable” can be read (by a properly motivated lawyer) as meaning either “other works that the Author considers suitable” or “other works written by the Author that the publisher considers suitable.” “The
Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire publishing rights for the following works: “The Author offers the Publisher
an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works written by the Author and considered by the Publisher to be suitable for German publication.”
The Author offers the
Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement for other of the Author’s works considered suitable for German publication.
If I say this because an alternative
interpretation— The Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights, under the condition of this Agreement, of other works considered by the Author to be suitable for German publication.
—has the problem of seeming to apply to other works by any author since the second mention of “the Author” in this interpretation arises only in connection with considering other works suitable for German publishing, not in connection with “the Author” being the author of them. Is the Lord of the Rings trilogy suitable for German publication, this contract (with the original bolded wording interpreted in the second way) would authorize offering the publisher an option to acquire publishing rights for the fans of the book on that basis.
What will be an objective revision if the new Author’s proposed
work is rejected from this original document? This is ultimately no less absurd than interpreting the original wording The Author offers the Publisher the contractual rights on the rights of the previous Author to acquire the contractual rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works by the Author considered suitable for German publication.
as if it were making a stipulation not as to “works… considered suitable for German publication” but as to “the Author considered suitable for German publication”. How would a lawyer make that argument (for the right consideration), but it’s hard to imagine that the person who created the contract might have had that meaning in mind.
So legally there are (at least) three defensible ways to interpret the provision in question; but as a matter of common sense, only the “other works written by the Author and considered by the Publisher to be suitable for German publication” interpretation passes the “would a fair-minded, reasonably intelligent native English speaker be likely to interpret the provision in this way?” test.
The provision
The Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works by the Author considered suitable for German production.
is, unfortunately, fatally ambiguous because “other works by the Author considered suitable” can be read (by a properly motivated lawyer) as meaning either “other works that the Author considers suitable” or “other works written by the Author that the publisher considers suitable.” “The
Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire publishing rights for the following works: “The Author offers the Publisher
an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works written by the Author and considered by the Publisher to be suitable for German publication.”
The Author offers the
Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights under the condition of this Agreement for other of the Author’s works considered suitable for German publication.
If I say this because an alternative
interpretation— The Author offers the Publisher an option to acquire the publishing rights, under the condition of this Agreement, of other works considered by the Author to be suitable for German publication.
—has the problem of seeming to apply to other works by any author since the second mention of “the Author” in this interpretation arises only in connection with considering other works suitable for German publishing, not in connection with “the Author” being the author of them. Is the Lord of the Rings trilogy suitable for German publication, this contract (with the original bolded wording interpreted in the second way) would authorize offering the publisher an option to acquire publishing rights for the fans of the book on that basis.
What will be an objective revision if the new Author’s proposed
work is rejected from this original document? This is ultimately no less absurd than interpreting the original wording The Author offers the Publisher the contractual rights on the rights of the previous Author to acquire the contractual rights under the condition of this Agreement of other works by the Author considered suitable for German publication.
as if it were making a stipulation not as to “works… considered suitable for German publication” but as to “the Author considered suitable for German publication”. How would a lawyer make that argument (for the right consideration), but it’s hard to imagine that the person who created the contract might have had that meaning in mind.
So legally there are (at least) three defensible ways to interpret the provision in question; but as a matter of common sense, only the “other works written by the Author and considered by the Publisher to be suitable for German publication” interpretation passes the “would a fair-minded, reasonably intelligent native English speaker be likely to interpret the provision in this way?” test.
