# Work made for hire

URL: https://sellmydatatoai.net/glossary/work-made-for-hire

A work made for hire is a work whose copyright belongs from creation to the employer or commissioning party, not the individual who made it.

A work made for hire is a work that US law treats as authored by the employer or commissioning party rather than the person who created it. Under [17 USC 101](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/101) it is either a work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment, or a specially commissioned work in one of nine listed categories where both parties sign a written agreement saying so.

The nine categories are a contribution to a collective work, part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test and an atlas. Under [17 USC 201(b)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/201) the employer or commissioning party owns all rights unless a signed writing says otherwise. The Copyright Office's [Circular 30](https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ30.pdf) explains the tests.

## Why does work made for hire matter in a data sale?

Work made for hire matters because code, designs and documents written by contractors usually fall outside the nine categories. The company then owns them only if it has a signed [copyright assignment](https://sellmydatatoai.net/glossary/copyright-assignment). Buyers check this as part of [chain of title](https://sellmydatatoai.net/glossary/chain-of-title).

## How does UK law differ?

Under [section 11(2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/11), an employer owns works made by an employee in the course of employment. UK law has no commissioned work category, so contractors keep copyright unless they assign it.