Copyright, Computer Software, and Work Made for Hire

Initial copyright ownership normally vests in a work's creator. Initial copyright ownership becomes more complex when several creators collaborate to produce a work or when a creator is hired to produce a work. When a creator is working in another's employ, it may be appropriate to grant the initial copyright to the employer. The courts have developed the work for hire doctrine, but defining the term "employee" has proved troublesome. In Community for Creative Non-Violence versus Reid (1989), the Supreme Court adopted a narrow definition of employee, and hiring parties that commission work have lost the ability to designate such work as work for hire for all but a few, narrow categories of work. The change in the doctrinal shift poses substantial difficulties to the efficient exploitation of computer software. The current work for hire provisions should be revised to account for the unique aspects of the computer industry, allowing software to be included in the work for hire class.