Copyright Law and Your Creative Muse
Posted: Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009 @ 9:06 pm | Written by Lisa Fantino | 2 commentsPage viewed 8,869 times |
Posted in: Copyright, Guest Contributors, IP News, IPWatchdog.com Articles
Lisa Fantino, Lady Litigator
So, your creative muse is singing away but is her voice silenced as soon as you begin working for someone else, either as an employee or as an independent contractor on a commissioned piece? Well, that depends. Generally, intellectual property which you create while on the job working as an employee, creating items such as cartoons, comics, computer software programs, photographs, articles, logos, website designs, songs etc., will belong to your boss, as if your boss was the creative energy that inspired the masterpiece. As to a work created by you as an independent contractor for a third-party, the creation must fall into one of nine categories enumerated in the statute AND you must have a written work for hire agreement.
