Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Hired To Invent Vs. Works Made For Hire: Resolving The Inconsistency Among Rights Of Corporate Personhood, Authorship, And Inventorship, Sean M. O'Connor
Hired To Invent Vs. Works Made For Hire: Resolving The Inconsistency Among Rights Of Corporate Personhood, Authorship, And Inventorship, Sean M. O'Connor
Articles
This Essay focuses on the interrelation of three legal doctrines that affect the allocation of ownership and attribution of products of the human mind. The first, corporate personhood, grants corporations rights of personhood similar to those of natural persons. The second, the work-made-for-hire doctrine (WMFH) under copyright law, allocates ownership and attribution for copyrightable works to the employer of the natural-person author—even where that employer is a nonnatural, legal person such as a corporation. And the third, shop rights and the hired-to-invent exception, permits courts to grant equitable licenses or assignments to employers for their employees’ inventions.
These three doctrines …