: Re: Who owns the copy if a copywriter provides copy as a paid service? I build websites. I've used a copywriter to provide the website copy, the client paid the writer directly. I placed copyright

@Carla500

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It all depends on the contract.

(Bear in mind that I'm not a lawyer. This is my amateur understanding of U.S. copyright law.)

If the client was foolish enough to purchase the text from the writer and not insist on a release, then the writer still owns the copyright to the text.

If the writer was working as a salaried employee, then any material produced would be the property of the company. But if the writer is a contract worker, then the writer does indeed own the copyright until and unless it is explicitly released. The writer can release it for a duration, for a specific purpose, or not at all.

In graphic design, when you design something for a client, you write something in the contract explicitly releasing the copyright to the client so that the client can use the finished work. If that finished work is a logo, the rights are unlimited. If the finished work is an illustration, the release might say "You can publish it in your book, but you can't put it on a T-shirt and sell it." The client explicitly does not have the right to any comps or alternate designs which the client didn't use and didn't pay for.

My (again, not-a-lawyer) interpretation of copyright law is similar here. If the writer produced something, even if it was paid for, the writer owns the copyright until the writer releases said copyright. If the client didn't secure the intellectual property rights to the copy, that's not the writer's fault or problem.

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