The issue of who owns the copyright in newly-developed software may arise in a number of business situationsan employee creates a work-related program on his home computer, a company hires a freelance developer to write software, a worker at an informal technology start-up develops software without an employment agreement or other formal arrangement in place. To address such questions, the Copyright Act contains provisions governing "works for hire," which allow for two exclusive ways for a work to be deemed a work for hire.
This article will discuss work for hire generally, some recent decisions interpreting work for hire provisions regarding employees and programmers, as well as a discussion of some differences between a work for hire agreement and a copyright assignment.
