Employees and Copyrights

[Animachine]

Right now I have qwuite a few people who I pay to do bits of work here and there. I need to know the best way to makes sure that anything created on my payroll is owned by my company, as I don't want anything created for me if a person could just reuse it for themselves. Does anyone have advice on the matter?

[twinsmommy]

The best thing to do is to write up a contract for any freelance work that you have done. Make sure it states clearly that any work created by them for your company is the sole property of your company and may not be used by the individual in any manner without your explicit consent and have anyone you have to the work sign one.

[kingusama92]

Employers usually make it explicitly clear in the contract that is signed.

If you do not get them to sign on anything, they are certainly allowed to reuse the material. It is best to get them to sign those papars quickly, if you have not already. Could create a big mess later on depending on how important the work is.

[UmiNoor]

When I worked for a private educational center, I was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement and in the agreement, I cannot use any concept that the school used for its clients. I guess you can get your employee to sign such an agreement. I'm sure there's a generic contract you can use for this purpose or you can always consult a lawyer to initiate such an agreement.

[dojo]

NDA, as others said. Let them sign this and they should know legally they're bind to not re-use the creative work they've done for your business. I am a web designer and had such contracts signed with my clients too and it's OK. I usually don't re-use content/designs, but such a contract makes it even more specific.