Work For Hire Agreements
01-13-09
So you have that great idea rolling around in your head but you are not a writer, painter, computer code programmer, artist, singer/songwriter or musician. You decide to pay someone to help develop your concept into a real physical product.
Accordingly to Copyright law, each creator owns what they produce upon creation. Which means, even if you pay someone to create something for you, they own the copyright, especialy if you have not done anything to copyright your version prior to retaining the other person to create their version, for you. Having both parties sign a Confidentiality Agreement would provide you with more protection than you have without one, but there is one other thing you can do to retain your ownership.
Have the person or company helping makr your dream into fact, sign a ‘Work For Hire’ contract that explains precisely that you retain ownership of whatever it is that is being produced, in return for you giving them money or whatever other bartering deal you may manage to put together.
One thing I have learned over the years is that everything is negotiable. I have offered my consulting services in exchange for services to be rendered by artists to help develop my projects to the next step.
What needs to be in a Work For Hire agreement?
Briefly these are the most important clauses that should be included.
The date of the agreement.
Both full names and addresses of each party involved. One should be identified as the ‘Owner’ of the property ‘the Work’ and the other is the ‘Contractee’ (the person who will draw the artwork, or write the screenplay or create the music or do what you need done).
The Preamble expresses what each party desires to achieve from such a contract. For example: The Contractor/Owner expects to receive work (a painting of such-and-such, a screenplay based on the owner’s short story, etc.) while the Contractee expects to be paid in cash or services or some other agreed upon payment.
Contract Clauses are the meat of a binding agreement and lay out the terms for such a deal between the parties. They should detail the following:
1. Work for Hire Terms of the agreement and Delivery dates when the work will be completed.
2. Type and time of payment for services.
3. Copyright Ownership in the Work remains with the Owner not the Contractee. The Contractee transfer their copyright to the Owner for all services rendered under this contract.
4. Waiver of Moral Rights by the Contractee.
5. That the agreement does not create a partnership or employee relationship between the parties.
6. Titles and sections of the agreement if deemed illegal do not terminate the contract.
7. Liability and Indemnification understanding.
8. Jurisdiction territory
9. Signatures of both parties and any witnesses signatures if necessary.
The above is a basic outline and not a complete contract. Should you be interested in obtaining a detailed ‘Work For Hire’ contract or further information, contact me at info@Playdigm.com or contact your legal counsel. I am not a lawyer but I have created, negotiated and signed many contracts during my professional career.
Once you have an agreement between all the parties, prior to signing it, you should seek your own legal counsel to ensure the contract says exactly what it is supposed to.
Work For Hire agreements are a great way to maintain complete ownership of your project when work you are unable to do is required to be done.
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Tags: contract, Copyright, ebook, Moral Rights, Work For Hire