WORK MADE FOR HIRE

As a continuation of our Copyright Series, let’s take a look at Work Made for Hire. It’s a bit different from your standard copyright ownership and it causes a great deal of confusion as to who actually owns the copyright to the work.

According to the US Copyright Office, a work made for hire is:

A work prepared by an employee in his or her scope of employment

Or

As a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work

As part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work

As a translation

As a supplementary work

As a compilation

As an instructional text

As a test

As answer material for a test

As an atlas

For Part One of this definition, we have to define the employer-employee relationship usually characterized by certain factors:

Control by the employer of the work – Does the employer determine how the work is done; is the work done at the employer’s location; does the employer provide equipment to create the work?

Control by the employer over the employee – Does the employer dictate the employee’s schedule; determine the employee’s assignments; determine the employee’s method of payment?

Status and conduct of the employee – Does the employer work in the business to produce such works; provide employee benefits; withhold tax from the employee’s payment?

Considering the above, while the employee may be the author of the work, if you’re in a situation with a salaried employee, it’s likely that you as the employer own the work in question (unless otherwise stated in a written agreement). You as the employer may be a firm, an organization or an individual.

For Part Two of this definition, if the work is created by an independent contractor it becomes a Work Made for Hire if applies as one of the nine categories stated and a written agreement between parties specifying that the work created is a work made for hire.

Before you decide who actually owns that copyright, determine the circumstances under which the work was created; because sometimes it really isn’t about who created the work.