Law Commons^™

Small Business And Copyright Ownership, Niels Schaumann

Faculty Scholarship

This article attempts to facilitate the recognition of situations involving copyright and the appropriate arrangements regarding ownership of the right. Part II briefly outlines some copyright basics, including the varieties of copyrightable subject matter under the Copyright Act of 1976. Part III describes copyright ownership, focusing on the kinds of transactions most likely to take place in the context of small business, including the “work for hire” doctrine. Armed with these fundamentals, the small-business lawyer may find that copyright litigation will rarely become necessary.