May I Have Your Permission, Please?

As explained in the previous post, the term “author” legally means a person who produces original work through intellectual labor. However, the creator of an original work is not always considered the author.

If the creator is a staff member being paid to create the work, the employer holds the copyright. Basically, the employer must ask the employee to do the work, and pay the employee for doing the work. Then again, if the creative work does not fall under the employee’s normal job duties, the employee, as author, may possibly hold the copyright. This is when lawyers get involved!

If the creator is not a staff member, but the employer and the creator have signed a written contract specifically stating that the work is being done as “work for hire,” the employer holds the copyright.

On the other hand, if a creator wrote an article, designed a web site, or drew a cartoon, but did not sign a “work for hire” contract, the odds are that the creator retains ownership of the copyright. Please do not consider this legal advice as I am not a lawyer, but generally speaking, if there is no contract clearly stating that the work is done for hire, and signed by both parties, the copyright is retained by the author even if the work is done on commission or by special order.

Ivan Hoffman is an intellectual properties lawyer who maintains a very useful site at http://www.ivanhoffman.com/ for anyone considered an author, whether they be writers, publishers, recording artists, songwriters, or Web site designers.

© 2008 Anne Wallingford

After reviewing the history of copyright law, a reasonable question is, “So just what is a copyright?” A copyright gives an author a legal way to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute his/her original work.

Since Congress and the courts have used legislation to have the term “author” mean a person who produces original work through intellectual labor, anyone who expresses an idea in a tangible form - words, painting, sculpture, photograph, or music - is considered an author for copyright purposes.

Without copyright laws, J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, might have only earned a fee for selling her original work. The buyer of her manuscript would have been able to publish her book and sell copies without paying her any additional fees. But because Rowling copyrighted her work, she could sign a contract with a publisher to have her stories published and receive royalties for every copy sold.

© 2008 Anne Wallingford

The U.S. Copyright Act was modified in 1976 for two important reasons. First, it was necessary to consider the effects of new technological developments on what could now be copyrighted, and what constituted an infringement given all the new possibilities. Electronic file sharing, the Internet, and photocopying were only some of the ways copyright was affected by technology. These things did not exist earlier and now had to be addressed.

The second main reason for the revision was to bring U.S. copyright laws into adherence with the international copyright laws being set at the Berne convention. For example, works of an individual author were now protected for the author’s life plus 50 years, protection was extended to unpublished works, and under certain circumstances, library photocopying was permitted. New rules for “fair use” were also defined.

For in-depth information about U.S. Copyright Law you can go directly to the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov/.