Hiring a creative worker. What elements of the contract do you need to have in mind?

The employment of a creative employee involves the need to regulate the legal relationship in relation to the performance of duties of a creative nature by the employee and the acquisition of copyright by the employer.

Although the general rule in Article 12(1) of PrAut provides, as it were, for the automatic acquisition of copyright in employee works by the employer,[1] it is worthwhile to regulate additional issues in the employment contract which will detail the legal relations concerning the intellectual property created by the employee.

The following list may be helpful if you are thinking of hiring creative employees or the nature of your industry is to provide creative services.

In your employment contract, remember to:

• listing, as precisely as possible, the employee’s duties – the transfer of copyright will not take place if the employee creates a work outside of the employment relationship;
• the obligation of the employee to carry out creative work;
• listing the fields of exploitation defining the uses of the works;
• authorising the exercise of derivative copyrights over developments of the work.

You may also include provisions on:

• specifying how and when the work is to be accepted from the employee;
• A time limit for distribution of the work;
• any additional compensation in relation to the creation of the work;
• amendments, implementation of the employer’s comments on the work;
• issues related to the exercise of the employee’s moral rights;
• how to keep records of the working time devoted to creative work;
• questions concerning the acquisition of the medium on which the work is fixed.

It is not excluded to include other provisions regulating the legal relationship in the employment contract – it all depends on the intention of the parties to the contract according to which they want to arrange it.

It is also possible for the workplace to adopt creative work regulations, to which the employment contract will refer with respect to provisions regulating specific issues related to the duties of creative employees and employers.

[1] Unless otherwise stipulated by law or the employment contract, an employer whose employee has created a work as a result of the performance of duties under the employment relationship shall, upon acceptance of the work, acquire the author’s economic rights within the limits arising from the purpose of the employment contract and the parties’ mutual intention.