Tom, a classmate of yours at Red River College, was employed as a programmer by Mohawk Oil Company about three months after graduation. Because you could understand the program he was working on and because you write well, he called to ask if you wanted to take on the task of writing the manual to accompany the program. Read each of the following separately and indicate which is true.
A) The issue of who owns copyright in the manual depends solely on who writes it.
B) If two persons wrote the manual together, only one person can have ownership of the copyright.
C) If the company hires you as an employee to write the manual, the company would own copyright unless your employment contract provided otherwise.
D) If you contract as an independent contractor (independent consultant) with the company, and the contract does not specify otherwise, the company owns the copyright.
E) The owner of the copyright will be whoever first gets his claim of ownership in the copyright office.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

C) If the company hires you as an employee to write the manual, the company would own copyright unless your employment contract provided otherwise. This is because of the "work made for hire" doctrine, where works created by employees in the course of their employment are owned by the employer unless there is an agreement stating otherwise.

Tom, a Classmate of Yours at Red River College, Was