Work made for hire
A work made for hire is a work whose copyright belongs from the start to the employer or commissioning party, not the person who created it.
What it means
Under US copyright law, the creator of a work normally owns it. A work made for hire is the exception: the employer or the party that ordered the work is treated as the legal author and owns the copyright from the moment it is created. Work that employees create as part of their jobs is generally a work made for hire automatically.
Independent contractors are different. A contractor’s work only qualifies if it falls into one of a short list of categories in the copyright statute, such as a contribution to a collective work, part of a film or other audiovisual work, a translation or a compilation, and both sides sign a written agreement calling it a work made for hire. Many common freelance deliverables, including most standalone software, logos and websites, may not fit those categories, so labeling them “work for hire” may not work on its own.
That is why many contracts say the work is made for hire and then add a backup: if it does not qualify, the contractor assigns the copyright to the client anyway. Clients like true work-for-hire status partly because the creator cannot later use the legal right to end a copyright assignment decades down the line. Some states attach other consequences; in California, for example, a work-for-hire agreement with an individual can affect whether that person is treated as an employee for certain state purposes.
What to watch for
- Check whether the contract relies only on work-for-hire language or also includes a backup assignment of copyright.
- Consider whether the deliverable actually fits one of the categories that can be a work made for hire when a contractor creates it, since many do not.
- Look at whether the work-for-hire language reaches your pre-existing materials, which it normally should not.
- If you are an individual contractor in California or another state with special rules, check whether the clause could have employment-law consequences for either side.
- See whether the client’s ownership is tied to payment, or whether it owns the work even if it never pays.
Example clause
The parties agree that each Deliverable is a “work made for hire” for Client to the extent permitted by law. To the extent any Deliverable does not qualify as a work made for hire, Contractor hereby assigns to Client all copyright and other rights in that Deliverable.
The client aims to own the work from the start, and if the law does not allow that, you transfer the rights to it anyway.