Editing Work for hire (section)

==== United Kingdom ====

Under the [[copyright law of the United Kingdom]], the first owner of copyright in a work may be the employer of the person who created it:

{{quote
|text=Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or a film, is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work subject to any agreement to the contrary.
|source=[[Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988]], [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/part/I/chapter/I/crossheading/authorship-and-ownership-of-copyright Section 11(2)]
}}

The expression "in the course of employment" is not defined in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, but in settling disputes, UK courts usually evaluate whether the employee created the work under a "contract of service" (e.g. as an employee) or a "contract for services" (e.g. as a freelancer or independent contractor).<ref name="gov.uk"/> This statute has been compared to the work for hire doctrine in the United States.<ref name="phanse2022"/>

There is currently no provision for initial ownership of copyright in commissioned works to vest in the hiring party; however, prior to 1 August 1989, "the copyright in photographs, portraits and engravings (and only those types of work) which were created as a result of a commission were owned by the commissioner." Under current law, the first owner of copyright in any commissioned work is the person or organization that created it, but there may be an [[implied license|implied non-exclusive license]] for the hiring party to use the work for the purpose for which it was commissioned.<ref name="gov.uk">{{OGL-attribution|inline=x|version=3.0|{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ownership-of-copyright-works|title=Ownership of copyright works|author=[[Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)|Intellectual Property Office]]|website=[[gov.uk]]|date=19 August 2014|access-date=21 May 2025}}}}</ref>