| J. Dianne Brinson is a copyright attorney specializing in intellectual property. Along with Mark F. Radcliffe, she is co-author of The Multimedia Law and Business Handbook ($74.95 plus $4 p&h), LADERA PRESS, 3130 Alpine Rd., Suite 200-9002, Menlo Park CA 94025. On-line she may be reached at laderapres@aol.com |
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IF IT'S NOT IN WRITING... When a client hires you for your talents, it can't be assumed that the client will own the resulting creation. The Copyright Law says that if the client wants to own the copyright in the artwork, the client needs to get a written assignment of the copyright from you (for certain types of works, a written work-for-hire agreement will do as well). Otherwise, the copyright belongs to you, the work's creator. For example, Bill asked Mary, an independent graphics artist, to design a unique front cover for Bill's Web site. It included a montage of several of Mary's photos. If Bill and Mary have no written agreement concerning ownership of the cover, Mary owns the copyright to it. Unless Mary assigned, in writing, the copyrights in her photos to Bill, she still owns those copyrights as well.
This rule applies only to works created by independent contractors. There is a different rule for works created by employees, which I'll cover in the September issue. |
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