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KUNZLER & McKENZIE
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
(801) 326-4554
| Salt Lake City patent attorney, Tyler R. Goucher, provides intellectual property attorney services including patent application, patent filing, guidance on the patent application process, trademark applications trademark name searches and copyright services to clients in Utah with clients located from Ogden to Provo including Layton and Park City. As a patent Lawyer licensed with the United States patent and Trademark Office, Mr. Goucher is also available to assist inventors with their inventions throughout the United States. |
Tyler R. Goucher
Salt Lake City Patent Attorney
Salt Lake City Patent Attorney
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website or by sending us an e-mail. Legal issues are highly factual in nature and advice given must relate to the specific facts of a case.
Therefore, we recommend that you seek an attorney qualified to render an opinion on your situation.
website or by sending us an e-mail. Legal issues are highly factual in nature and advice given must relate to the specific facts of a case.
Therefore, we recommend that you seek an attorney qualified to render an opinion on your situation.
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| Tyler R. Goucher Patent Lawyer 8 East Broadway, Ste 600 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Phone: (801) 326-4554 Fax: (866) 285-2421 tyler@kmiplaw.com |
Work for Hire
Questions are: Who owns the digital images of artwork performed during the course of employment? Without anything
in writing between the employer and employee, can this artwork be used to represent the employer's work?
Answer: This question involves the legal doctrine of “Work for Hire.” According to the United States Code (17 U.S.C.A.
§101) a “Work for Hire” is defined as follows:
A "work made for hire" is — (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work
specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other
audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as
answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the
work shall be considered a work made for hire. For the purpose of the foregoing sentence, a "supplementary work" is a
work prepared for publication as a secondary adjunct to a work by another author for the purpose of introducing,
concluding, illustrating, explaining, revising, commenting upon, or assisting in the use of the other work, such as
forewords, afterwords, pictorial illustrations, maps, charts, tables, editorial notes, musical arrangements, answer material
for tests, bibliographies, appendixes, and indexes, and an "instructional text" is a literary, pictorial, or graphic work
prepared for publication and with the purpose of use in systematic instructional activities.
In employer-employee situations any work produced by the employee, within the scope of his/her employment, is legally
owned by the employer. 17 U.S.C.A. §201(b) provides:
(b) Works Made for Hire — In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was
prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a
written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.
Additionally, an oral contract may be just as binding as a written contract. However, there are some situations in which
Courts will invalidate oral contracts. Therefore, depending on the circumstances of your oral employment contract you
may or may not have legal rights to the artwork. I would suggest consulting with an attorney in your state regarding the
contractual issues.
Questions are: Who owns the digital images of artwork performed during the course of employment? Without anything
in writing between the employer and employee, can this artwork be used to represent the employer's work?
Answer: This question involves the legal doctrine of “Work for Hire.” According to the United States Code (17 U.S.C.A.
§101) a “Work for Hire” is defined as follows:
A "work made for hire" is — (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work
specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other
audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as
answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the
work shall be considered a work made for hire. For the purpose of the foregoing sentence, a "supplementary work" is a
work prepared for publication as a secondary adjunct to a work by another author for the purpose of introducing,
concluding, illustrating, explaining, revising, commenting upon, or assisting in the use of the other work, such as
forewords, afterwords, pictorial illustrations, maps, charts, tables, editorial notes, musical arrangements, answer material
for tests, bibliographies, appendixes, and indexes, and an "instructional text" is a literary, pictorial, or graphic work
prepared for publication and with the purpose of use in systematic instructional activities.
In employer-employee situations any work produced by the employee, within the scope of his/her employment, is legally
owned by the employer. 17 U.S.C.A. §201(b) provides:
(b) Works Made for Hire — In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was
prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a
written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.
Additionally, an oral contract may be just as binding as a written contract. However, there are some situations in which
Courts will invalidate oral contracts. Therefore, depending on the circumstances of your oral employment contract you
may or may not have legal rights to the artwork. I would suggest consulting with an attorney in your state regarding the
contractual issues.