Work Made for Hire Agreement

Under the Copyright Act, only nine categories of works qualify as works for hire when created by independent contractors: contributions to collective works, parts of motion pictures, translations, supplementary works, compilations, instructional texts, tests, test answers, and atlases. For other categories, use an assignment of copyright instead. Both parties must sign a written agreement before work begins stating the work is made for hire. Include a backup assignment clause in case the work-for-hire designation is not upheld.