> In practice it's simple - if you're paid to build a thing for someone, that someone owns the thing. It's known as a "work for hire".
This is generally not true in US copyright law. In US copyright law, a "work made for hire" is either made by an employee in the scope of employment, or is one of certain classes of commissioned for one of several specific purposes enumerated in the law where there is a written agreement signed by both parties specifically designating it as a work made for hire. If it is not done by an employee in the scope of employment, then if it is not also commissioned for one of the purposes explicitly described in the law or, even if it is, if there is not a written agreement designating it as a work made for hire, then its not a work made for hire.
Note that the purposes enumerated in the law include commissions:
* as a contribution to a collective work
* as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
* as a translation
* as a supplementary work
* as a compilation
* as an instructional text
* as a test
* as answer material for a test
* as an atlas
...and that's it. Most specially commissioned software won't fit into one of those categories, so even with an explicit written agreement purporting to designate a work as one made for hire, it still won't actually be a work made for hire for copyright purposes, and the copyright will rest with the creator. see 17 USC Secs. 101, 201.
> That's what your customer will expect, anyway.
If your customers expect that, they will generally be wrong.
> I mean, would you pay someone to build a thing for you and think didn't own the copyright on the thing?
To the extent that someone commissioning a work that is not in the categories that can be a work for hire in US law wants to own the copyright of a work created in the US, they should seek to recieve a signed transfer of copyright, otherwise they will be disappointed. see 17 USC Sec. 204.
This is generally not true in US copyright law. In US copyright law, a "work made for hire" is either made by an employee in the scope of employment, or is one of certain classes of commissioned for one of several specific purposes enumerated in the law where there is a written agreement signed by both parties specifically designating it as a work made for hire. If it is not done by an employee in the scope of employment, then if it is not also commissioned for one of the purposes explicitly described in the law or, even if it is, if there is not a written agreement designating it as a work made for hire, then its not a work made for hire.
Note that the purposes enumerated in the law include commissions:
* as a contribution to a collective work
* as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
* as a translation
* as a supplementary work
* as a compilation
* as an instructional text
* as a test
* as answer material for a test
* as an atlas
...and that's it. Most specially commissioned software won't fit into one of those categories, so even with an explicit written agreement purporting to designate a work as one made for hire, it still won't actually be a work made for hire for copyright purposes, and the copyright will rest with the creator. see 17 USC Secs. 101, 201.
> That's what your customer will expect, anyway.
If your customers expect that, they will generally be wrong.
> I mean, would you pay someone to build a thing for you and think didn't own the copyright on the thing?
To the extent that someone commissioning a work that is not in the categories that can be a work for hire in US law wants to own the copyright of a work created in the US, they should seek to recieve a signed transfer of copyright, otherwise they will be disappointed. see 17 USC Sec. 204.