Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Re-use of advertising created by me by a former client

To answer your question fully, an attorney would need to know all of the facts of your situation and perform some legal research into the question of whether your situation falls into an area of intellectual property known as "work for hire." As the name implies, the "work for hire" doctrine says that the employer owns the intellectual property rights of those he hires to perform creative work. Imagine, if you will, if Microsoft, General Motors or General Electric (or other employers) did not own the intellectual property rights of its researchers, engineers, scientists, etc., but rather those individuals owned such rights, despite the fact that the employer paid the employee to conduct such work and, typically, the expenses associated with do it. The employees would then sell the rights back to Microsoft, etc., creating an enormous windfall for the employees.

Since it does not sound like there is a lot of money at stake in your potential claim against the retailer, I suggest you try doing some of your own research on the "work for hire" doctrine on the Internet. After you get a sense of the doctrine, you will better be able to determine whether, in fact, the doctrine applies to you such that the retailer owns the work in question.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; 156 W. 56th Street, Suite 1902, New York, New York 10019; [email protected]; www.lawyers.com/alo