Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Michigan

Re: Property of Tattoo Artwork contained in digital/paper photos

This question involves the legal doctrine of �Work for Hire.� According to the United States Code (17 U.S.C.A. �101) a �Work for Hire� is defined as follows:

A "work made for hire" is � (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. For the purpose of the foregoing sentence, a "supplementary work" is a work prepared for publication as a secondary adjunct to a work by another author for the purpose of introducing, concluding, illustrating, explaining, revising, commenting upon, or assisting in the use of the other work, such as forewords, afterwords, pictorial illustrations, maps, charts, tables, editorial notes, musical arrangements, answer material for tests, bibliographies, appendixes, and indexes, and an "instructional text" is a literary, pictorial, or graphic work prepared for publication and with the purpose of use in systematic instructional activities.

In employer-employee situations any work produced by the employee, within the scope of his/her employment, is legally owned by the employer. 17 U.S.C.A. �201(b) provides:

(b) Works Made for Hire � In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.

Additionally, an oral contract may be just as binding as a written contract. However, there are some situations in which Courts will invalidate oral contracts. Therefore, depending on the circumstances of your oral employment contract you may or may not have legal rights to the artwork. I would suggest consulting with an attorney in your state regarding the contractual issues. I am not licensed to practice law in your state and cannot provide legal advice regarding these issues.

For more information on Patent, Trademark and Copyright law please see www.patentattorneyatlaw.com