
Who owns what?
People usually need to know who owns what for two reasons:
- They are creating a work, either alone or in collaboration with others, and want to know who will own what or who will have what rights in the finished work.
- They want to use another's work beyond the bounds of fair use and need to know whom to ask for permission.
The basics are the same for both, so we will cover them first, then show how those rules apply in the two situations above, and finally look at how to protect your work.
The basics
The author is usually the owner. Except when the work for hire rules apply: The author's employer owns work(s)
- created by an employee within the scope of employment, or
- that fall within one or more of the nine statutory categories, where an agreement commissioning the work is in writing and signed by the creator or creators before work begins. The nine statutory categories include: contribution to a collective work, part of a movie or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, or an atlas.
- If a work does not fit within the statutory definition of a work for hire, the employer may still own it if the author assigns the copyright to the employer or contractor.
- An author-owner is free to assign copyright to anyone, so a written contract can change these basic rules. Many publishers require assignment of copyright as a condition of publication.
University policies can also change the ownership rules, so check your contract and the institutional IPR policy. Ownership can be complicated. Some categories of works that used to be distinct may now be merged into a single work. Scholarly works owned by faculty members can be implemented in software; works-made-for-hire can incorporate pre-existing materials that a faculty author created earlier.
We have more information on the issues arising from ownership of material: