Do Employers Own the Copyright on the Work Employees Create?

Although the general rule is that the person who creates a work is the author of that work, there is an exception to that principle: the copyright law defines a category of works called “works made for hire.” If a work is “made for hire,” the employer, and not the employee, is considered the author. The employer may be a firm, an organization, or an individual. (See U.S. Copyright Office Circular 9)

A work made for hire according to Section 101 of the copyright statute is: 1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or 2) a work specially ordered or comissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work . The author of a work made for hire is the employer or other person for whom the work has been prepared and should be named as the author. How does a work made for hire effect copyright ownership? The owner of the copyright of a work made for hire is the employer or the other person for whom the work was prepared.

For more information, see U.S. Copyright Office Circular 9, Works Made for Hire under the 1976 Copyright Act at: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ9.html

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Labels: copyright, employee copyright ownership, employer copyright ownership, intellectual property

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