Is It Work Made for Hire? A Look at Australia, China, Germany, and the United States

In 2021, INTA’s International and Legislative Subcommittee of the Copyright Committee published its comprehensive report Works Made for Hire: Review of Legislation and Practice. The report, available only to INTA members, covered over 60 jurisdictions to serve as an initial resource summarizing the various legal issues around work-made-for-hire regulations.

For an overview, the Subcommittee outlined various jurisdictions’ approaches. For example, the doctrine of “work made for hire” is common in only a few jurisdictions, while others have legislative regulation of “works made in course of employment” (employee’s works) and “commissioned works.”