The legal contract between a brand and an affiliate publisher that defines the terms of their affiliate relationship, including commission structures, approved and prohibited promotional methods, compliance requirements, and termination conditions. A comprehensive publisher agreement is the primary legal framework protecting the brand's interests in an affiliate program. Essential publisher agreement components: commission terms: commission rate(s) by publisher type or product category; cookie window duration; commission payment schedule and minimum threshold; commission reversal conditions (returns, fraud, disputes); approved promotional methods: content types approved for affiliate promotion; traffic sources approved for driving affiliate clicks; any specific promotional formats the brand encourages. Prohibited promotional methods: trademark bidding prohibition (exact brand name paid search); cookie stuffing prohibition; adult content, hate speech, and brand-unsafe content adjacency prohibition; misleading claim prohibition; unauthorized discount or coupon code prohibition; disclosure requirements: FTC-compliant disclosure language requirements; platform-specific disclosure standards (blog, YouTube, social media); prohibited vague disclosure language. Termination conditions: conditions that result in immediate termination vs. cure-period violations; notification procedures for termination; treatment of pending commissions on termination. How publisher agreements are enforced: publisher agreements are typically accepted via click-through (publisher checks 'I agree to the program terms' during network application); click-through acceptance is legally binding in most jurisdictions; enforcement is primarily through commission reversal and program termination; legal action is reserved for significant fraud or breach situations.
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