On the Bookshelf - Who Owns What?

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What are the exceptions to the rule that the creator of a work owns the copyright?

As a general rule, the copyright in a work is initially owned by the work's creator, but this isn't always the case.

•  the creator of a work owns the copyright? Copyrights are generally owned by the people who create the works of expression, with some important exceptions:

If a work is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment the employer owns the copyright.

If the work is created by an independent contractor and the independent contractor signs a written agreement stating that the work shall be made for hire the commissioning person or organization owns the copyright only if the work is:

•  Part of a larger literary work such as an article in a magazine or a poem or story in an anthology.
•  Clip art of a motion picture or other audiovisual work such as a screenplay.
•  A translation.
•  A supplementary work such as an after word, an introduction, chart, editorial note, bibliography, appendix or index.
•  A compilation.
•  An instructional text.
•  A test or answer material for a test.
•  An atlas.

Works that don't fall within one of these eight categories constitute works made for hire only if created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment. If the creator has sold the entire copyright the purchasing business or person becomes the copyright owner.

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