![]() If you've hired a freelancer to write content for your website and you haven't signed any written agreement, then they might own the copyright for your website content. Without registration, you don't have the means of filing a lawsuit. Copyright Office, then you might not be able to enforce these rights in a court of law. While these are the basic rules of copyright, if you haven't registered your copyright with the U.S. Copyrights for an author last for the life of the author plus 70 years. At a minimum, these contracts should detail the work you'll perform/produce, who owns the copyright, the pay for the work, and the date you'll get paid.Ĭopyright protections for "work for hire" last 95 years from the first year of publication or 120 years from the year of creation. This is why freelancers need to sign a contract before producing work for anyone. So, as a freelancer, if you go into a meeting discussing an idea for a client's website copy, they don't have to hire you and they can still use your ideas. One important caveat in freelance copyright laws is that ideas are not protected. However, even if the client uses the work as intended, if there isn't any written agreement, the author can publish and sell it elsewhere as well. If the client starts to use that work for other purposes, the author can successfully claim infringement of their copyright. Without a written agreement, it's assumed that the copyright for the work produced belongs to the author and that they've merely licensed use of that work to the client for a limited time and purpose. You'll need to have a valid written agreement using language that transfers copyright to the client before the client can use your work. If work that you do isn't one of the categories of "work for hire,” you can still transfer copyright ownership. Otherwise, the client isn't obligated to give you credit.īut what if the work you produce isn't under "work for hire"? In that case, you'd need to specifically ask for credit and have it written in your contract. Let's say that you produce "work for hire,” but you still want credit for the work. ![]() However, even if the work you do falls under these categories, you'd still need a written agreement that said you produced "work for hire.” If you're an employee within an organization, then a "work for hire" agreement isn't needed because it's assumed the employee has already agreed to this by accepting the job.
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