Re: Work for Hire for Whom?

From: Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 14:01:57 -0700

On 6/9/98, Michael Bradley <michael[_at_]vision-soft.com> wrote:
>
> A writer is a W2 employee of Agency X. He is assigned to work on a
> project at Client Y. His contract with Agency X says, "The work to be
> performed under this contract is a work made for hire."
>
> Who's the author for purposes of copyright, Agency X or Client Y?
> I would assume it is Agency X and that copyright must be explicitly
> transferred to Client Y.

This sounds like a law school hypo, so I'll call the writer W. You have three possible parties for copyright ownership: W, X, or Y. W and X have an agreement that W's work will belong to X. I'm not sure why they need such an agreement because if W is indeed an emloyee of X and is acting within the scope of that employment, any work he did would belong to X anyway. Although you don't say much about the legal relationship between X and Y, I'm assuming Y has no rights because Y is not the author of the work. If that's so, then the copyright belongs to X unless, as you say, it is transferred in writing to Y.

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Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
UCLA School of Law '98
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1206/

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Received on Thu Jun 11 1998 - 21:00:52 GMT