Works Made For Hire—When Should You Document an Agreement Covering Works Made for Hire?
Specially ordered or commissioned works require a "written instrument signed by them” to be considered a work made for hire. Courts currently disagree as to whether the agreement must exist before a work’s creation or may be executed afterwards. In this post, we explore the disagreement among the courts, as well as the impact of the August 2022 decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in Cortés-Ramos v. Martin-Morales.
Copyright Claims Board (“CCB”) is open for business!
Litigating copyright infringement cases in federal court can be very expensive, complicated, and time consuming, prompting those with relatively small claims—not the cases you read about in the news—to avoid enforcing their rights.
Works Made For Hire—Who Owns What You Created?
What is a “work made for hire” and when does it apply? Generally, the person who creates a copyrightable work is considered the work’s owner and author, unless the work is a considered a “work made for hire.” In this case—barring a signed, written agreement to the contrary—the work’s author and owner is the employer or other person/entity for whom the work was prepared.
Protect Your Music and Album Release with a GRAM Copyright Registration
Through a process known as “group registration,” the Copyright Office allows authors, photographers, and artists to register for copyright groupings of multiple related works, all with a single application filing, and all for a single fee.
How Copyright Can Protect Your Podcast and Other Considerations for Podcasters
As a podcaster, how can you protect your work and what else should you be thinking about?
Benefits of Securing Copyright Registration
Though copyright exists as soon as the work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium, and there is no requirement to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office, such registration has many benefits.
Nonprofit Meeting Minutes Best Practices
Minutes are one of the ways by which a nonprofit organization and its board and officers can evidence compliance with not only the nonprofit’s own governing documents, but also state and federal law.
Why Nonprofits Should Have A Document Retention and Destruction Policy & What Should Be Included
A document retention and destruction policy (“DRD”) provides a nonprofit with instructions on which records must be kept, for how long, and whether records must be kept electronically, physically, or both. Documents that should be retained are those that are necessary for the nonprofit’s accounting, tax, and legal needs.