29-Aug-2008

Only the author of a work or one deriving their rights through the author can claim copyright ownership. One may derive authorship rights from the creator through a work made for hire. The most common work made for hire arrangement is the employer/employee relationship. One may also acquire authorship rights from the creator through a freelance agreement.

For example, if an advertising company has a graphic artist on staff as an employee, all copyright claims in works created by the employee within the scope of their employment are owned by the advertising company, not the artist. More on works made for hire next week.

When two or more people jointly author a work, then they are co-owners of the work unless they have reached an agreement to the contrary.


IP IN THE NEWS:

JAMAICA TAKES ACTION TO SQUASH CYBERSQUATTERS

The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office has stated that it will block internet domain name registrations containing the names of its Olympic winners. The JIPO organization will block all sales from any .com domain that is not owned by the Jamaican athletes themselves. The athletes include Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown.

One British company was auctioning off the domain name UsainBolt.com, but has now cancelled that auction. Jamaica is trying to prevent cyber squatters from taking advantage of the now famous Jamaican athletes.