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How interesting; I was under the impression that work done by a freelancer was automatically considered to be a work for hire. But you appear to be right.
by mistercow 14y ago
How interesting; I was under the impression that work done by a freelancer was automatically considered to be a work for hire. But you appear to be right.
- brudgers 14y agoUnless the contract explicitly states that it is work for hire, it isn't. I will add that as layers get added to the contract relations - subcontractors used by the contractor, sub-subcontractors by the subcontractor, etc. - the exposure grows. This sort of issue is largely addressed within my industry via standard contracts developed over the course of 100 years. However, they only go a few layers deep because this is sufficient given the economics. On the other hand, the economics of software development are such that even a tiny piece of code might be deemed to contribute several million dollars of value.
- rprasad 14y agoIP created by an employee is "work for hire" because it is assumed that all of the employee's work is specific to the employer. A contractor may perform the same task for many different clients, so a contractor's work is not the IP of the client unless the contract explicitly states that that is a work for hire or is assigned to the client.