What is a copyright “work for hire”?
Material that is prepared by an employee or a consultant may be treated as a work-for-hire. The effect of this is that the employer is considered as the original author of the work for all legal purposes. Most work created by employees within the scope of their employment duties is work for hire. However, when commissioning work to be done by a non-employee, the copyrights will belong to the consultant, not the commissioning party. So, for example, if you hire a photographer to take photos at your wedding, all the rights to use the photos will belong to the photographer, not to you. You must have a written contract that specifically transfers or assigns copyrights to you in order to have the right to make further copies. Be aware that any transfer or assignment can be revoked by the photographer after 35 years. Certain types of “specially commissioned works” will be treated by law as works-for-hire (and cannot be later revoked), but only if the parties have signed a written agreement a
