ABSTRACT
A work prepared by an employee or a commissioned work to an individual, corporation, or organization where the parties agree that composition is for hire.
Under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, a work-made-for-hire (work for hire or corporate authorship) is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work. This principal allows for corporations, employers, and individuals other than the creator to purchase a work and obtain the rights and privileges associated with copyright ownership. As such, the creator may or may not be publicly credited for the work. Generally, a workmade-for-hire is specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, such as part of a motion picture or other audio visual work. Terms of the use and ownership of the work are expressed in an advanced written agreement between the parties. In complex works, which contain multiple copyrighted works, for example, a film, it is in the company’s best interest to control the copyright of all elements-film, music, choreography, and so on-so that the entity cannot be limited by individual sections. Furthermore, if there is no workmade-for-hire a company may be forced to rely on an implied license, thereby reducing the hiring party’s rights to alter, update, or transform the work for which it paid. Certain circumstances allow the creator of a composition the ability to retain some rights to the material following this assignment, either through provisions of a contract surrounding the assignment or through statute. For example, the Copyright Act of 1976 and the “Sonny Bono” Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 increased U.S. copyright terms and allowed creators of preexisting works to reclaim the copyright when the previous shorter term would have expired.
