Work for Hire Contracts

I was asked recently to assemble a post about Work for Hire contracts to give artists and students the opportunity to read about this process and educate themselves before entering into one with a client. Generally it's considered a bad idea for an artist to sign a Work for Hire contract because it strips the artist of all rights and claim of ownership. There are exceptions of course, and ultimately it's up to you whether you sign it or decline it, but you should know what you're getting into. Let's start with a good 'ol Wikipedia definition of a Work for Hire Contract. Now let's take a look at an essay by Attorney Lloyd J. Jassin titled, Working with Freelancers: The Work for Hire Doctrine. In it, he represents the client hiring the freelance artist. Now for the artists point of view: Photographers should check out this primer on Work for Hire contacts by ASMP (The American Society of Media Photographers), while Illustrators and Designers can review this article, What does "Work for Hire" mean for designers? by AIGA, the professional association for design.

Copyright Tools

Copyright Navigator: A Digital Annotated Concept Map of the Fundamentals of U.S. Copyright Law by Professor Lionel S. Sobel is a pretty awesome interactive flowchart that lays out the fundamentals of copyright law, and how it pertains to things like enforcement and fair use.

Ready to register those works of art? The United States Copyright Office has the step by step instructions and required forms for copyright registration of various flavors, including visual arts, literary works, performance art etc..

Creative Commons has a new "Termination of Transfer" tool based on the US Copyright Act that assists artists in reclaiming copyrights given away long ago. 35 years, to be exact. via boingboing.

Here's an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal about some new tools that can scan the web for violation of copyright. Attributor and Copyscape are the key players right now.

UPDATES 5/2/08

Attributor just raised 12 million and has the support of Condé Nast.