Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

Past Employer Refusing To Take My Voice Off Of The Company Greeting

I worked as a receptionist for my past employer for over 4 years. To keep it simple, I put in over 4 years of service, then quit with out notice. Understandably, they are upset with me, but they refuse to take my voice off of the company greeting. They have had over a month to do it and I asked them once nicely. Is there some kind of law that says that they can not keep my voice on the greeting if I am no longer employed there? Can I collect ''Royalties''?


Asked on 6/15/05, 3:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Moens Moens Law Offices, Chartered

Re: Past Employer Refusing To Take My Voice Off Of The Company Greeting

No, you can't collect royalties. If you really want to get picky, it's going to work this way: You recorded that greeting on their time, while being paid. Therefore, without any agreement to the contrary, they own the "rights" to your "performance." To go even deeper, they also would own the copyright to the content of your greeting, since either they "composed" it, or you "composed" it on a work for hire basis. Sorry, but you're just going to have to deal with the fact that your voice greeting is there as long as they want to keep it.

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Answered on 6/16/05, 4:58 am


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