11-25
Ch. 11
11.8.5
11.8.5
11.8.5
Employer for hire. Renewal copyright in works copyrighted by employer for whom they were made for hire may be claimed by the proprietor.
I.
Employer-claimant. Generally, in order for this basis of claim to be acceptable, the original copyright claimant must have secured the copyright by virtue of his employment of the author, rather than through any transfer of rights after the work was completed.
II.
Definitions. The Copyright Office will make no effort to determine whether or not a particular arrangement constituted employment for hire.
a.
A renewal claim as "author" will be questioned when the original records of the registration state that the work was made for hire.
b.
A renewal claim as "proprietor of copyright in a work made for hire" will be questioned when the original copyright claimant was also the only author listed on our records.
1.
The claim will be registered if the individual was listed as "author" by virtue of being an employer for hire.
2.
The claim will be rejected if the person listed as "author" on the original records wrote the work himself, unless an explanation is offered indicating the author was employed for hire, and inadvertently or by agreement with the employer claimed copyright in his own name.
III.
Work made for hire. The law specifies that, in order for this claim to be applicable, the work must have been copyrighted by the employer for which the work was made for hire.
a.
No provision is made for the case in which the work was made for hire, but the employer transferred his common law literal property to a third person prior to publication.
b.
When this situation is presented the Copyright Office will register a claim as "proprietor of copyright in a work made for hire," but will point the difficulty out to the applicant.
