Copyright Ownership and Rights
by
Attorney Richard Stim
Sometimes, someone other than the creator of a work owns the copyright.
The creator of a copyrighted work does not always own the copyright. In some cases other persons or entities own the copyright. There are also rules governing copyright ownership when two or more people create the work. Finally, copyright owners can assign rights to the copyright to others, particularly for the purpose of marketing the protected work.
When Someone Other than the Creator Owns the Copyright
There are several exceptions to the general rule that the creator of a work owns the copyright to the work.
Work for Employer: If an employee creates a work in the course of his or her employment, the employer owns the copyright.
Work "Made for Hire": If an independent contractor creates a work which qualifies as a work "made for hire," then the hiring person or firm owns the copyright if the work is one of the following:
- part of a larger literary work, such as an article in a magazine or a poem or story in an anthology,
- part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, such as a screenplay
- a translation,
- a supplementary work such as an afterword, an introduction, chart, editorial note, bibliography, appendix, or index,
- a compilation,
- an instructional text,
- a test, or answer material for a test, or
- an atlas.
Works Sold to Another: If the creator sells the entire copyright to another person or business, that buyer becomes the copyright owner.
Copyright Ownership in Joint Works
When two or more authors prepare a work with the intent to combine their contributions into inseparable or interdependent parts, the work is considered joint work and the authors are considered joint copyright owners.
The most common example of a joint work is when a book or article has two or more authors. The U.S. Copyright Office considers joint copyright owners to have an equal right to register and enforce the copyright. Unless the joint owners make a written agreement to the contrary, each copyright owner has the right to commercially exploit the copyright, provided that the other copyright owners get an equal share of the proceeds.
Rights Belonging to the Copyright Owner
The Copyright Act of 1976 grants a number of exclusive rights to copyright owners, including the:
- reproduction right -- the right to make copies of a protected work
- distribution right -- the right to sell or otherwise distribute copies to the public
- right to create adaptations -- the right to prepare new works based on the protected work (called derivative works), and
- performance and display rights -- the rights to perform a protected work (such as a stageplay) or to display a work in public.
This bundle of rights allows a copyright owner to be flexible when deciding how to realize commercial gain from the underlying work; the owner may sell or license any of the rights.
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