Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
Need to get paid for intellectual property(artistic designs)
My husband and I are artists who agreed to create many (over 50) designs for props to be sold for the halloween industry. We were never paid for r&d or the designs themselves. We were paid to make master molds of them and make foam painted copies of them for the company to sell. We never received our compensation for designing them which took many hours. This has been over a two year period. In this industry usually artists are paid per design or given a lump some to buy the rights to these designs. We have dated photos of these designs in clay form to show we are the persons who created and sculpted them. We have helped build this companies product line ten fold, but never received payment for the designs. Now that we have made this owners company better and he is getting many orders for our ideas he wishes to let us go. We worked in his shop making and painting these copies so he could sell them earning an hourly wage. He also prevented us from working because he would not keep in stock the materials needed to make these copies and we could not go in to work. He has also on numerous occasions asked us to do dishonest things so he could benefit. We refused and are now being let go with no pay for our designs. What can we do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Need to get paid for intellectual property(artistic designs)
I wish I could give you a more encouraging answer, and maybe I'm wrong, but there are a couple of facts recited in your question that give me concern about the enforceability of your possible claim for copyright infringement and royalties or damages. It sounds as though you were employees of the manufacturer. Doesn't this make the designs its property, under the "work for hire" rule? If you had been retained to do piecework or as independent contractors, the story would be different, but research I did on this many years ago leads me to think the designs may belong to the employer since you did them while employed.
The other misbehavior of the employer would have to be looked at, item by item, to see if there is anything that can be charged against it that would (a) possibly benefit you by way of a civil suit, or (b) benefit the public through criminal charges.
Since your make your living being creative, and need to understand how to protect yourselves from having your work ripped off by unscrupulous profiteers, I'd suggest investing fifty bucks or so in a couple of "self-help law books" for artists and authors on how to protect your work by copyright, contract, etc. - I'd start by looking at Amazon.com but don't overlook your local bookstore or the Web site of Nolo Press.
Re: Need to get paid for intellectual property(artistic designs)
Well, how much does he owe you?
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