When to use it
- A magazine, anthology or publication commissioning articles or stories it wants to own outright
- Translations, forewords, indexes and other pieces written for someone else's book
- Textbook chapters, course material and test questions written for a publisher or training company
- Scripts and narration written as part of a video, film or other audiovisual project
- A writer reading a client's contract who wants to see what each clause gives away
What "work made for hire" means
Under U.S. copyright law, the person who writes something is normally its author and its first owner. A work made for hire is the exception: the employer, or the client who commissioned the work, is treated as the author and owns the copyright from the start (17 U.S.C. § 201(b)). The writer never owns it, so there is nothing to transfer later.
There are two ways in. Work an employee does as part of the job is made for hire automatically. Work by a freelancer qualifies only when two conditions are both met: it was specially ordered or commissioned as one of nine kinds of work listed in the statute, and both parties signed a written agreement saying it is a work made for hire. Calling a freelancer an employee in the contract does not move them to the first route. Since the Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, courts look at the real relationship: who controls how the work is done, who supplies the tools, how the person is paid and taxed, and whether there are benefits.
The template uses "Contractor" rather than "Writer" so it also works for translators, editors and illustrators. Rename the parties if you prefer.
Does your project qualify?
These are the nine categories in the statute's definition, with the kinds of writing that can fall under each. The work has to be commissioned for that use. A piece written on spec and sold afterward does not count.
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101 | Writing that can fit |
|---|---|
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Contribution to a collective work | Writing that can fitAn article for a magazine issue, a story for an anthology, an encyclopedia entry |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work | Writing that can fitA screenplay, a video script, narration for a documentary |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Translation | Writing that can fitA translated novel, translated manuals or subtitles |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Supplementary work | Writing that can fitA foreword, afterword, index, bibliography, appendix or chart for someone else's book |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Compilation | Writing that can fitA selected and arranged collection, such as a directory or a quotation book |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Instructional text | Writing that can fitA textbook chapter, a published course or training manual |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Test | Writing that can fitExam or quiz questions |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Answer material for a test | Writing that can fitAnswer keys and scoring guides |
| Category in 17 U.S.C. § 101Atlas | Writing that can fitText and maps for an atlas |
A lot of writing fits none of them: a novel, a memoir, a speech, a stand-alone report. Website copy and one-off blog posts sit in a gray area. For anything outside the list, the copyright reaches the client only through a signed assignment, which is why section 3 of the template exists. Careful agreements include it even when the category looks safe.
Work for hire, assignment or license
A client can end up with the rights to a piece of writing in three ways. The differences matter mostly for work that will earn money for a long time, such as a book or a textbook.
| What differs | Work made for hire | Assignment | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| What differsLegal author | Work made for hireThe client | AssignmentThe writer | LicenseThe writer |
| What differsWho owns the copyright | Work made for hireThe client, from creation | AssignmentThe client, after the signed transfer | LicenseThe writer, who lets the client use it |
| What differsWorks for any writing | Work made for hireNo: employees' work or the nine categories | AssignmentYes | LicenseYes |
| What differsSigned writing needed | Work made for hireYes, for commissioned work | AssignmentYes (17 U.S.C. § 204) | LicenseFor an exclusive license |
| What differsWriter can end it after 35 years | Work made for hireNo | AssignmentYes, in a set window (§ 203) | LicenseYes, in a set window (§ 203) |
| What differsHow long the copyright lasts | Work made for hire95 years from publication or 120 from creation, whichever ends first | AssignmentThe writer's life plus 70 years | LicenseThe writer's life plus 70 years |
Clients prefer work for hire because it is the cleanest chain of title: no transfer to prove and no termination window decades later. Writers give up more with it than with an assignment, and far more than with a license. Magazines, for example, often buy only first serial rights and leave everything else with the writer. If the client only needs to publish the piece, a licensing agreement or a freelance writing contract that names the rights sold may be the better document.
How to use this template
- Name the category in section 2
Pick the one category from the table that the work is commissioned for, and delete the rest. If none fits, the honest version of this document is an assignment: remove the work-made-for-hire sentences in section 2, keep section 3, and retitle it.
- Describe the work with numbers
Section 1 decides what the fee buys and what counts as a change. Write a length, a count, a file format and a date, and list what the client has to supply. For a larger project, attach a statement of work and point to it here.
- Decide what the writer keeps
Sections 4 and 5 are where a writer protects earlier material, portfolio use and a byline. None of them is implied by a work-for-hire clause, so leave them out only on purpose.
- Sign before the work starts
Courts have refused to let parties relabel finished work as made for hire after the fact, and they disagree about how late a signature can come. Get both signatures before the first draft, and keep the signed copy as a PDF.
A filled-in example
Here is how the key sections read for a single magazine feature. The rest of the template stays as written.
1. The work. One feature of 2,500–3,000 words on the lending libraries of Ohio's mill towns, plus captions of up to 150 words, delivered to the features editor as a .docx file by March 3. The Larkspur Review provides archive access and two introductions by February 1.
2. Category. A contribution to a collective work: the Review's spring issue.
4. What the writer keeps. Teodora Vance keeps her interview recordings and research notes. She may show the published feature in her portfolio three months after the issue is released.
5. Credit. "By Teodora Vance" in print and online.
6. Fee. $1,800 fixed: $600 on signing and $1,200 on acceptance, each due within 30 days of invoice. The Review will not publish the feature until it is paid in full. If it cancels after signing, it pays a kill fee of 25% of the unpaid balance.
Clauses worth a second look
- A category that does not fit. If the work is not one of the nine kinds, the work-for-hire clause does nothing for a freelance job and the assignment carries the weight. Check that section 3 survived every round of edits.
- Ownership before payment. The statute does not make ownership depend on being paid. If you are the writer and want a link between the two, the optional sentence in section 6 is the plain way to make one.
- Credit and portfolio rights. Work for hire decides who owns the copyright, not whose name appears. A byline exists only if the contract says so.
- Your earlier material. Without section 4, a broad ownership clause can sweep in research, notes and passages you reuse from older pieces. Name them.
- AI-generated text. The U.S. Copyright Office's January 2025 report on copyrightability concluded that purely AI-generated material is not protected and that prompts alone are not enough. A person's selection, arrangement and edits can be. A client paying to own the copyright needs to know which parts a person wrote, which is what section 9 asks.
- California. State law treats someone hired under a signed work-for-hire agreement as an employee for workers' compensation (Labor Code § 3351.5(c)) and the client as an employer for unemployment insurance (Unemployment Insurance Code § 686). Clients there should ask a lawyer before using section 2.
- Outside the United States. In the UK and Canada, for example, a freelancer who is not an employee is the first owner of the copyright in what they create, so the assignment is what moves ownership. Many countries also give authors moral rights, such as the right to be named, that cannot be transferred. Some allow a written waiver and some do not.
Frequently asked questions
Does work for hire mean the writer can't be credited?
No. Work-made-for-hire status decides who owns the copyright, not whose name appears on the work. Credit is a separate term: if you want a byline or a translator credit, write it into the agreement, as section 5 of this template does.
Is a ghostwriting contract a work-for-hire agreement?
Often it uses the same language, but a ghostwritten book such as a memoir is not one of the nine statutory categories, so for a freelance ghostwriter the work-for-hire label usually does not apply. The copyright passes through the assignment clause instead, which is why a ghostwriting contract needs one.
Can a work-for-hire agreement be signed after the work is finished?
Do not rely on it. Courts have refused to treat work as made for hire when the agreement came after the work was created, and courts differ on whether a signature can follow an earlier spoken agreement. Sign before work begins. If you are already past that point, ask a lawyer whether an assignment is the better fix.
How long does the client own a work made for hire?
For U.S. works created since 1978, the copyright in a work made for hire lasts 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever ends first. A copyright the writer owns lasts for the writer's life plus 70 years, and a transfer of it can usually be ended in a window that opens 35 years after it was signed. A work made for hire has no such window.
