Can I have some cream with my risk
Why you need a “work for hire” agreement
They say a great product starts with a question. At the most improbable time, people of all walks have asked a simple question about something; then the process took over. The formula you came up with was inspired, the prototype was simple and it worked. You begin to wonder if you “can I sell this?” A few months later, you have a product in mind, and you began to ask for help. You called your best friend who is an amazing artist and she draws your product the way you dreamed it night. Another friend is a sales director and helps develop the plan to sell your product as he begins to look at the industry it’s a part of. The idea becomes a reality as you’re getting more excited. You think about starting a company and you begin kicking around product names. Maybe a good friend of yours is a talented software engineer and he began to write the code that your product needs. “We can definitely do it this way!”
Seeing your idea on paper, seeing it being transformed from simple idea to tangible item is one of the most exciting things a person can witness. But in the excitement a question will ultimately pop up. How do you protect it? A politician once extolled to his audience that “You didn’t do this alone” your triumphs belong to everyone who helped you. And, as true as that is, it’s still your idea and you should have control of how life is breathed into it. How do you protect your dream, your idea, and your tangible product? Well, you always begin with a “work for hire” contract.
To a lot of people a “work for hire” contract seems to define something for a company or organization that already exists. However, in the world of Intellectual Property a “work for hire” is simple. A “work for hire” contract simply establishes to the people helping you your friend the artist; the sales guy who helped with the plan, that any work done on behalf of your established idea, anything representing established endeavor, essentially belongs to you. It means this contract secures your rights to the entire product and any interest in the company is given based on the owner and not the person that works on the product. Now, is this mean? Are you “short changing” or diminishing the effort that your friends and relatives put in to helping you build on that simple idea you had while having coffee. The answer is no. In a lot of these situations, while friends do help other friends succeed, it has been my experience that the originator of the idea has spent the most time and energy thinking, dreaming, changing, redesigning and helping this endeavor come to life. The creation of a product, the pursuing of a dream is no different than birthing a child. And, like most parents, we want to make sure the idea we birthed and love so much is under our watchful eye. The “work for hire” contract secures that control. The job of a IP Lawyer is to make sure the idea you came up with that one day, the excitement of having such a dream is protected. A “work for hire” contract makes sure that dream stays as close to you as your child would when they are playing outside. A “work for hire” contract gives you the ultimate decisions of your product, the ultimate control you need to move forward with your idea; because ultimately, that product is still tangible, still a dream and is rightfully, still yours.
ScottCollins’ priority is to protect your product, your idea and ultimately the interest you have in such an idea. We are here to make sure the dream is alive and well, in your control, waiting to do what you want it to do.
ScottCollins, LLP is a full service law firm specializing in general purpose law, Intellectual Property Law and Litigation.