On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 02 Mar 1999, Dan L. Burk <burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > At the risk of repeating myself, I will point out again that if
> > the writer is an employee, contrary to your initial statement,
> > s/he is NOT an author;
>
> My copy of Black's dictionary makes no mention of employee status in
> its definition of 'author,' as follows:
Why is this relevant? Black's is not a source of legal authority. If you want to look at something, look at the statute.
> It seems to me that freelance technical writers, often working
> through temp agencies, make no claim to copyright or attribution
> in research articles or other communications they may create.
First, you are now talking about "copyright or attribution." In the United States, those are entirely different matters. So far as copyright is concerned, please see my comment above -- authorship is determined by the statute, not by the individual, except in one certain set of narrowly defined circumstances.
> > and if s/he is a freelance contractor, contrary to your current
> > statement, the work by definition CANNOT be a work made for hire
> > (unless it falls into the exception I previously noted, which it
> > almost certainly doesn't).
>
> Would a journal publisher's contract reading as follows would
> be incorrect?
>
> If the Contribution was written by the Contributor
> as a work-made-for-hire in the course of employment,
> the Contribution is owned by the company/employer
> which must sign this Agreement in the space provided
> below. In such case, the company/employer hereby
> transfers and assigns to the Publisher the full and
> exclusive rights in the Contribution ...
No, this is quite correct, and entirely consistent with my statements above. It is inconsistent with your statements. A freelance contractor is by definition not an "employee" for purposes of copyright.
> Or do you mean that a 'work-made-for-hire' loses that legal status
> under the present U.S. law when the rights are transferred?
Once again: if it is a work made for hire, there are no rights to be transferred (at least, not from the employee) because the copyright vests with the employer. If the copyright vests with the writer, such that there are rights to be transferred, it is because s/he is not an employee for these purposes.
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