Clause · Intellectual Property — Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, Designs
Work made for hire clause
Clause for a work made for hire on or after 1 January 1978, using the two paths in Copyright Office Circular 30. A commissioned work must be in one of the nine categories and the writing must be signed by both parties. Anything else is an assignment, not this clause.
- Kind
- Clause. Wording to drop into a longer document.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use inside an employment or commissioning agreement when the client wants the hiring party to be the author. Do not use the commissioned path for a website, software or a logo unless that work really is one of the nine categories. Do not use it to fix ownership after the fact.
Used for these tasks
- Draft an IP licence or assignment from the term sheet
- Draft an IP clause set for an AI development or data-licensing agreement
- Draft AI IP clauses for a services agreement
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may insert this clause and tick the category the lawyer has already chosen. The lawyer decides whether the person is an employee and whether a commissioned work is in one of the nine categories.
AI may
- Insert the employee path or the commissioned path as the lawyer directs
- List the deliverables against the nine categories and mark any that the lawyer has not classified
- Point to the copyright-assignment form when the commissioned path does not fit
AI must not
- Must not decide that a contractor is an employee, or that software, a logo or a website is in one of the nine categories
- Must not state a term of years for a work made for hire
- Must not add agency-law factors beyond the questions Circular 30 sets out
The lawyer checks
- Employee status and scope of employment are decided on the facts, under the general common law of agency as Circular 30 describes it
- A commissioned work is in one of the nine categories, the writing is signed by both parties, and it says the work shall be considered a work made for hire
- If any of those fail, the copyright-assignment form is used and is signed by the owner
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
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- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
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- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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