Work for Hire: What You May Not Know That Could Change Your Life

The October meeting consisted of a presentation given by Ty Herrington about intellectual property and work for hire. The following is Ty's synopsis of her presentation:

The work for hire doctrine in intellectual property law supports the legal fiction that a business entity can be an "author" for purposes of claiming control over copyrighted material. As a result, it is not uncommon that technical communicators, graphic designers, software content developers, and other creative communicators undertake work for a company without realizing that an employer may validly claim complete control over the intellectual products created. My talk will explain the work for hire doctrine, how it operates, and what elements have to be satisfied to create a work for hire. I will also discuss means to avoid conflicts regarding work for hire and provide an overall examination of work for hire within the constitutional framework of policy for the intellectual property provision as a whole.

If a work is work for hire, it means that the "employer" has the rights to that creation instead of the creator or "employee." There are two requirements for a work to be considered "work for hire". These are employment status and scope of work. The creator must be deemed to be an "employee" of the "employer" and the work in question must have been done within the usual scope of work that the employee does for the employer.

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