We’ve worked with legal professionals and proofreaders to design a simple work for hire agreement template to help you protect your intellectual property when working with service providers.
We’ve worked with legal professionals and proofreaders to design a simple work for hire agreement template to help you protect your intellectual property when working with service providers.
What’s in this template?The development of intellectual property such as books, branding, science inventions, patents, music, design concepts, amongst others—sometimes requires multiple collaborators to bring the project to life.
For example, a music producer may hire vocalists, guitarists, and writers to make a song. However, it can quickly get murky concerning ownership of the end product when many parties were involved in the creation.
A work for hire agreement is a legally binding contract between the client (the owner) and the service provider (hired talent) detailing the terms and conditions of the work.
Check out the video below for an overview of how work for hire agreements works.Effectively, service providers are hired temporarily to contribute their part of the project, but they do not have any claims to ownership of the end product.
It’s also worth mentioning that service providers are considered independent contractors in work for hire relationships.
Without a work for hire contract, different parties may try to claim rights to the intellectual property when they’re not technically entitled to do so, which can create confusion and potential legal disputes.
DISCLAIMER: We are not lawyers or a law firm and we do not provide legal, business or tax advice. We recommend you consult a lawyer or other appropriate professional before using any templates or agreements from this website.
The implications of not using a work for hire agreement with collaborators can be catastrophic to your projects. That’s why we’ve created a simple template to help protect your work.
Click below to get a copy of our template todayIn any situation you may need to hire a contractor to help you complete a creative project, you’ll likely need to get them to sign a work for hire contract. Let’s look at some examples below.
Our contract for hire agreement template contains all of the essential information you need to hire talent for your project. With that said, we’ve identified two best practices to get the most out of your template.
As the client and owner of the project, the success of the execution of your hiring agreements all boils down to planning. Below is a simple three-step approach to planning your work for hire agreements.
With this planning process, you’ll be able to clearly understand what you need from your service providers before you reach out to them. This helps define the scope of their role within the boundaries of your project.
Depending on the scale of your operation, you can have someone on your team dedicated to doing your project management. That way, a core part of their role is to define projects and manage all of your independent contractors.
It’s best to introduce your work to hire agreement to a potential service provider as early as possible—before they commence any work.
Whether you’re sourcing your talent in-person or remotely after you interview them and want to make them an offer, email a copy of your agreement immediately.
This gives collaborators time to review the details of your contract and ask questions about any concerns they have before signing.
Sometimes collaborators will spontaneously perform work for you. For example, an acquaintance is visiting your studio, and randomly feels inspired to start writing a song for your demo. In this instance, you want to make sure you have some of your templates on hand with you so you can get your talent to sign the work for hire contract on the spot.
Lastly, sometimes you can’t help situations where a collaborator provides a service without signing an agreement. While it’s not ideal, you can still follow up after getting them to sign a contract.
Just keep in mind that it’s much harder to get service providers to sign the agreement after they’ve delivered their work. So it may require some persistence to get your paperwork in order.
The implications of not using a work for hire agreement with collaborators can be catastrophic to your projects. That’s why we’ve created a simple template to help protect your work.
Click below to get a copy of our template today Frequently Asked QuestionsCopyright laws vary depending on the country and regions. According to the United States Copyright Office , the copyright protection for work made for hire is 120 years from the date of creation.
With an agreement, it’s tempting to rely on verbal communication and handshake deals. While these interactions can be seen as a contract, a signed formal agreement gives you more protection and visible consent from all parties involved.
We acknowledge you may need to make adjustments to our template based on the needs of your project. We’ve made our work for hire template available in Word, so you make modifications as needed.
document preview– This Work For Hire Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) is entered into on ______________ (the “Effective Date”), by and between __________________________ , with an address of ______________ (hereinafter referred to as the “Client”) and ______________ with an address of (hereinafter referred to as the “Service Provider”) (collectively referred to as the “Parties”).
– During the period of this Agreement, the Service Provider shall have the responsibility to perform and provide the following services (hereinafter referred to as “Services”) to the Client:
– The Parties agree that all work created by the Service Provider in terms of him/her performing the services will remain the exclusive property of the Client, where he/she can use it without any restrictions.
– This Agreement shall be effective on the date of signing this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Effective Date”) and will end on ______________
– Upon the end of the term of the Agreement, this Agreement will not be automatically renewed for a new term.
– Hereby, the Parties agree that this is a non-exclusive agreement and that the Parties are regarded as independent contractors.
– All terms and conditions of this Agreement and any materials provided during the term of the Agreement must be kept confidential by the Service Provider, unless the disclosure is required pursuant to the process of law.
– Disclosing or using this information for any purpose beyond the scope of this Agreement, or beyond the exceptions set forth above, is expressly forbidden without the prior consent of the Client.
– This section will remain in full force even after the termination of this Agreement for a period of ______________ .
– Upon terminating this Agreement, the Service Provider will be required to return all the Client’s products or any other content (if any) at his/her earliest convenience, but not beyond ______________ days.
– In addition, the Client will be responsible to pay for all the Services that have been successfully performed up to the date of termination of this Agreement apart from the case where the Service Provider breached this Agreement.
– The Parties agree and disclose that they are authorized fully to enter into this Agreement. Both Parties’ performances and obligations are not to violate the rights of any third party or else violate other, if any, agreements made between them and/or any other organization, person, business or law/governmental regulation.
– The Parties agree not to indemnify and hold each other harmless as well as their affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and/or permitted successors. The Parties also agree to assign against all (if any) claims, losses, liabilities, damages, penalties, punitive damages, expenses, and any arising reasonable legal fees and costs of any kind or any amount that may arise. This includes any amount that may result from the negligence of, or the breach of, this Agreement by the indemnifying party, its successors and assigns that occurs in terms of this Agreement.
– This section will remain in full force and tact as well as effective even upon the termination of the Agreement naturally or the early termination by either of the Parties.
– Hereby, the Service Provider warrants to complete the Services enlisted upon in this Agreement as per the Client’s requirements and specifications. However, the Service Provider does not represent or warrant that such Services provided in this Agreement will create additional sales, exposure, brand recognition, profits or other.
– In addition to the above, the Service Provider holds no responsibility towards the Client in case the delivered work doesn’t lead to the Client’s desired results.
– Under no circumstances will either party be liable for any indirect, special, consequential, or punitive damages (including lost profits) arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the transactions it contemplates (whether for breach of contract, tort, negligence, or other form of action) in case such is not related to the direct result of one of the party’s negligence or breach.
– In an event where any provision of this Agreement is found to be void and unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining provisions will remain to be enforced in accordance with the Parties’ intention.
– In case of a dispute that results in legal action, the successful party is the one who will be entitled to legal fees, such as the attorney’s fees or other.
– This Agreement contains the entire Agreement and understanding among the Parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, inducements and conditions, express or implied, oral or written, of any nature whatsoever with respect to the subject matter hereof. The express terms hereof control and supersede any course of performance and/or usage of the trade inconsistent with any of the terms hereof.
– The Parties agree that any amendments made to this Agreement must be in writing where they must be signed by both Parties to this Agreement.
– As such, any amendments made by the Parties will be applied to this Agreement.– The Parties hereby agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and such is demonstrated throughout by their signatures below:
