Work-for-hire agreement
How to use this template
Use this when a client commissions writing, a translation or other material and will own it outright. Fill in the empty cells and the short [brackets], replace the grey notes, and keep one option where a clause offers several.
“Work made for hire” is a U.S. legal term with narrow limits: read the tip in section 2 before you fill in 2.1. Section 3 makes sure the Client owns the Work even where it doesn't apply, so keep it.
Contractors: check that 4.1 names what you are bringing in, and keep 6.4 if you want to be paid before the Work is published.
Delete the optional clauses you don't use, this box, the tip and the checklist at the end before you sign.
This is a template, not legal advice. Laws differ by country and state; for large sums or valuable rights, have a lawyer where you live review it before anyone signs.
This agreement is made on [date] between the client and the contractor named below (the “Client” and the “Contractor”). It takes effect when both parties have signed it, before any of the work begins.
Client | Contractor | |
Name or organization | ||
Address | ||
Email for notices |
1. The work
1.1 What the Contractor creates. The Contractor creates and delivers:
Description | With numbers, such as one 2,500-word article plus captions |
Format | |
Deliver to | |
Due | |
Client materials | What the Client provides, and by when |
1.2 The Work. The “Work” means everything the Contractor delivers under this agreement, including drafts, outlines and revisions.
2. Work made for hire
When work for hire applies. Under U.S. law, work commissioned from someone who is not an employee is a work made for hire only if both parties agree to it in a signed document and it falls into one of nine categories: a contribution to a collective work (such as a magazine, anthology or encyclopedia), part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work (such as a foreword, afterword, index or illustrations), a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, or an atlas. A standalone work, such as a whole book or report, usually doesn't qualify. Section 3 covers that case.
2.1 Commission. The Client specially orders and commissions the Work for use as [category].
2.2 Agreement. The parties expressly agree that the Work is a “work made for hire” as defined in the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101.
2.3 Ownership. The Client is the author of the Work and owns the copyright in it from the moment each part is created.
3. Assignment if the Work does not qualify
3.1 Assignment. If any part of the Work is not a work made for hire under the law that applies, the Contractor assigns to the Client all rights in it, including the copyright, in every country, as each part is created.
3.2 Further documents. The Contractor will sign any further document the Client reasonably needs to record this, at the Client's expense.
3.3 Moral rights (optional). Where the law allows, the Contractor waives any moral rights in the Work, except the right to credit in section 5.
4. What the Contractor keeps
4.1 Earlier material. Material the Contractor created before or outside this agreement stays the Contractor's. If any of it is included in the Work, the Contractor gives the Client a non-exclusive, permanent, royalty-free license to use it as part of the Work. It includes: list it, such as earlier articles, interview recordings or research notes.
4.2 Skills. The Contractor keeps their general skills, knowledge and experience, including ideas and techniques that do not reveal the Client's confidential information.
4.3 Portfolio. The Contractor may show [the published Work / excerpts of it] in a portfolio [after publication / with the Client's written approval].
5. Credit
Keep one option and delete the other.
Named credit. The Client will credit the Contractor as [credit line] wherever the Work is published.
Client's choice. The Client decides whether and how to credit the Contractor.
6. Fee and payment
6.1 Total fee. [Amount], [fixed / per piece / per word].
6.2 Payments. The fee is paid as follows:
Payment | Amount | Due |
Deposit, on signing | ||
On acceptance of the Work | ||
Expenses approved in writing | At cost | With the next invoice |
6.3 Late payment. If an invoice is more than [30] days late, work pauses until it is paid, and a late fee of [rate] per month applies where the law allows. Delete the late fee if you don't charge one.
6.4 Payment before publication (optional). The Client will not publish or distribute any part of the Work until the fee for it is paid in full.
7. Revisions and acceptance
7.1 Revision rounds. The fee includes [2] rounds of revisions.
7.2 Acceptance. Within [10] business days of each delivery, the Client either accepts the Work in writing or sends one consolidated list of changes.
7.3 Silence (optional). If the Client sends nothing in that time, the delivery is accepted.
7.4 Extra work. Revisions beyond the agreed rounds, and changes to the description in section 1, are paid at [rate] and agreed in writing first.
8. Independent contractor
The Contractor is an independent contractor, not an employee. The Contractor decides how, when and where to do the work, uses their own equipment, may work for other clients, and pays their own taxes. The Client does not provide employee benefits.
9. Promises
9.1 Original work. The Contractor promises that the Work is original, except for material the Client supplied or that is quoted and credited, and that, to the Contractor's knowledge, it does not infringe anyone's rights or defame anyone.
9.2 AI tools. Keep one option and delete the other.
Disclosed. The Contractor will tell the Client in writing which parts of the Work, if any, were generated with AI tools.
Not without approval. The Contractor will not use AI tools to generate text for the Work without the Client's written approval.
9.3 Client material. The Client promises that it has the right to use any material it supplies for the Work.
10. Confidentiality
The Contractor keeps the Client's non-public information confidential during this agreement and for [2] years after it, and uses it only for this work. This does not cover information that is already public or that the Contractor already knew.
11. Ending the agreement
11.1 Notice. Either party may end this agreement with [14] days' written notice.
11.2 Payment. The Client then pays for work done up to the end date, plus a kill fee of [X]% of the unpaid balance. Delete the kill fee if there is none.
11.3 What continues. Sections 2 to 5, 9 and 10 continue to apply after the agreement ends.
12. General
12.1 Governing law. The laws of [state and country].
12.2 Whole agreement. This is the whole agreement about the Work. Changes count only if they are in writing and signed by both parties.
12.3 Notices. Notices go to the email addresses at the top of this agreement.
12.4 If a part fails. If a court finds one clause unenforceable, the rest of the agreement still applies.
Signatures
Client | Contractor | |
Signature | ||
Name | ||
Title | ||
Date |
Before you sign
Every empty cell and bracket is filled in, the grey notes replaced or deleted, and the blue colour removed
The category in 2.1 is one of the nine in the tip, or both of you know the Work relies on the assignment in section 3
4.1 lists the Contractor's earlier material that may appear in the Work
One option is kept in section 5 and in 9.2
The payments in 6.2 add up to the total fee in 6.1
Both of you sign before any of the work begins