Let’s face it; blogging takes time and busy business owners and executives may have better uses of their time. Thus, it may be better to delegate the company blogging responsibility to one or more employees or hire an independent contractor to write the company blog.

These scenarios trigger copyright issues that should be understood, especially if the company plans to hire a blogging contractor.

The general rule of copyright ownership is that the person who authors the work owns the copyright. If there is more than one author of the work–a joint work–all of the authors own the copyright.

Does this mean employees own the copyright to blogging content the company pays them to write?

No. If the company assigns the blogging duty to an employee over whom the company has control, their blogging content falls within the “work made for hire” definition, and the employer company owns the copyright. After all, the company paid the employee to blog as part of his or her job duties, so the company should own the copyright.

What about independent contractors?

For the very reason that blogging can be time consuming, a cottage industry of contractor bloggers has emerged. If your company hires an independent contractor to blog, their work falls within the “specially ordered or commissioned work” definition under the the Copyright Act, and the general ownership rule applies (the author owns the copyright) unless there is a signed written agreement that specifies that their work is a work made for hire. In the case of contractor bloggers, a written contract makes all the difference in the world.

What’s the big deal?

If your company hires an independent contractor to write the company blog without a signed work made for hire agreement, under the Copyright Act, the contractor has the exclusive right to reproduce the work, to write derivative works (ie. squeals) based on the work, to display and distribute copies to the public, and the right to transfer ownership of their work to a third party. Your contractor could force you to remove the content they wrote for your company blog, they could use the content for another company, and they could even sell it to a third party. Hence, it is vital for to have a signed written agreement with the blogging contractor that says his or her work is a work made for hire (as well as non-infringement reps and warranties and indemnity clauses to name a few).

What if it’s too late?

If the company forgot to have its contractor blogger sign such a contract, it may not be too late. The company should put one in place for all new content written by the contractor. And, depending on the relationship between the people, the company might be able to obtain ownership to the copyright in the contractor blogger’s content, but only with a properly drafted and signed written agreement. You should definitely try.

For more information on works made for hire, download and read: Works Made for Hire under the 1976 Copyright Act.