2 Comments on "Ownership of the advertising campaign?"
sophist said on Sep 18th, 2009 at 8:30 PM:
It is the client who owns the property. The agency surrenders their ownership by virtue of a sale. The only thing the agency can claim thereafter is the credit of authorship. Which is a simple fact.
bcnu said on Sep 21st, 2009 at 2:25 AM:
The agency, although the client may have joint ownership of certain works created jointly (e.g., my concept, your artwork).
The advertising agency is an independent contractor and automatically owns the authorship and copyright of everything it creates. They will then license the client to use the creations for a limited purpose, place or time, usually upon payment of a fee. The client typically owns NOTHING more than a revocable license. Same for portrait photographers or web page designers or architects…
Simply stating, “work made for hire” in a written contract also does not override the statutory definition for the purpose of original ownership, unless the work is one of the nine qualifying types (under s.101 definitions in the U.S. copyright statutes), which would thus make the client the legal “author”.
However, some clients with enough bargaining power could request an “assignment” of at least part of the ownership of the ad campaign and would be purchasing part or all of the copyrights in the materials. This assignment must be in writing.
It is the client who owns the property. The agency surrenders their ownership by virtue of a sale. The only thing the agency can claim thereafter is the credit of authorship. Which is a simple fact.
The agency, although the client may have joint ownership of certain works created jointly (e.g., my concept, your artwork).
The advertising agency is an independent contractor and automatically owns the authorship and copyright of everything it creates. They will then license the client to use the creations for a limited purpose, place or time, usually upon payment of a fee. The client typically owns NOTHING more than a revocable license. Same for portrait photographers or web page designers or architects…
Simply stating, “work made for hire” in a written contract also does not override the statutory definition for the purpose of original ownership, unless the work is one of the nine qualifying types (under s.101 definitions in the U.S. copyright statutes), which would thus make the client the legal “author”.
However, some clients with enough bargaining power could request an “assignment” of at least part of the ownership of the ad campaign and would be purchasing part or all of the copyrights in the materials. This assignment must be in writing.