CompuServe Thread

DianneIn response to your question, copyright vests initially in the author or authors of a work. The authors of a joint work are coowners of the copyright. In the case of a "work made for hire", the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright. Also, copyright in each separate contribution to a collective work is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a whole and vests initially in the author of the contribution. In the absence of an express transfer of the copyright or of any rights under it, the owner of the copyright in the collective work is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of reproducing and distributing the contribution as part of that particular collective work, any revision of that collective work, and any later collective work in the same series. A "work make for hire" is a work prepared by an "employee" within the scope of his or her employment. For freelancers, a work can be a work made for hire if it is specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work or is a supplementary work (and some other categories) and if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work make for hire. Ergo, freelancers are not employees and you need an agreement if you want the copyright. For employees, you probably own the copyright but why not have a specific agreement to that affect anyway. -Jim