WORK FOR HIRE AGREEMENT
Effective date: [DATE]. Complete the bracketed fields and remove unused options before signing.
Client: [FULL LEGAL NAME], [ADDRESS], [NOTICE EMAIL].
Creator: [FULL LEGAL NAME], [ADDRESS], [NOTICE EMAIL].
1. COMMISSION
Work to be created: [DESCRIPTION, FORMAT AND SPECIFICATIONS]. Delivery milestones: [DATES]. Source files to be supplied: [LIST]. Client inputs and due dates: [DETAILS].
2. FEES AND APPROVAL
Total fee: [AMOUNT AND CURRENCY]. Payment milestones: [DETAILS]. Invoices due: [NUMBER] days. Included revisions: [NUMBER]. The client will give consolidated feedback within [NUMBER] days. Corrections to meet the agreed specification are included; new directions require an agreed price and schedule.
3. OWNERSHIP
Only to the extent the work qualifies under applicable law, the parties intend it to be work made for hire. To the extent the creator owns transferable rights in the commissioned final work, the creator assigns those rights to the client effective on full payment for that work. Unpaid drafts and rejected concepts remain with the creator unless agreed otherwise. The creator will reasonably assist with documenting the transfer at the client's expense.
4. RETAINED AND THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS
Background tools and pre-existing works retained by the creator: [LIST OR NONE]. Materials included under a third-party license: [LIST AND LICENSE TERMS OR NONE]. The client receives a perpetual license to embedded creator-owned background material as needed to use the paid final work. Moral rights consents or waivers, only to the extent permitted: [SPECIFIC TERMS OR NONE].
5. PERMISSIONS AND CONFIDENTIALITY
Each party must have permission for materials it supplies. The creator must identify any required additional licenses before inclusion. Public portfolio use requires written client approval. Each party must use the other's non-public business information only for this engagement, protect it with reasonable care, and disclose it only to people who need it and are bound to protect it. This excludes information already lawfully known, independently developed, lawfully received elsewhere, or public without breach. Required or protected disclosures are not prohibited. On request, return or delete information, except records required by law, which remain protected.
6. TERMINATION
Either party may end the engagement on [NUMBER] days' written notice, or for a material breach not corrected within [NUMBER] days after a notice explaining the breach. The client pays for completed work and approved non-cancellable costs up to termination. The creator returns unearned advance payments and delivers paid-for work in progress within [NUMBER] days. Confidentiality, accrued payment obligations and rights already granted survive.
7. NOTICES AND CHANGES
Notices must be sent to the addresses above by [AGREED DELIVERY METHOD] and take effect on [AGREED RECEIPT RULE]. Each party must promptly notify the other of changed contact details. Changes to this agreement must be recorded in writing and accepted by all affected parties.
8. LAW AND DISPUTES
Governing law: [AGREED LAW]. Courts or other agreed dispute process: [FORUM AND PROCESS]. The parties will first try to resolve a dispute through their named contacts for [NUMBER] days, without preventing urgent relief or missing a legal deadline. Nothing in this agreement removes rights or requirements that cannot lawfully be excluded.
9. COMPLETE AGREEMENT
This document and its completed schedules record the agreement on this subject. If a term cannot be enforced, the remaining terms continue to the extent permitted. Each signatory confirms authority to sign for the named party. Counterparts and electronic signatures may be used where permitted; any additional signing formalities must still be completed.
SIGNATURES
Client: [NAME]
Signature: ____________________ Date: ____________________
Signing capacity, if applicable: [TITLE / CAPACITY]
Creator: [NAME]
Signature: ____________________ Date: ____________________
Signing capacity, if applicable: [TITLE / CAPACITY]