Do You Own Everything You Think You Own in Your Business?

Did you know that if you hire someone (as an independent contractor, not as an employee) to create a piece of intellectual property for your business, you may not own the work they created for you?

Copyrights automatically exist for the author of the work instantly upon creation of that work. Therefore, if an independent contract makes a piece of artwork, codes a software program, etc. for your business those pieces of intellectual property do not belong to your business; they belong to the contractor.

The only way your business will have the ownership rights to that work is if you have a contract - in writing - that assigns or licenses the rights to that intellectual property to your business.

If you're an independent contractor, it is important that you know what you need to do in order to protect your intellectual property, too.

This is a very important topic and something that is necessary for any business owner or independent contractor to be aware of. If you have any questions about how to protect your intellectual property, send me a message so I can help.