Guidelines for Use of Employee-Created Works

All works created by employees during working hours and within the scope of, or related to, his/her employment are owned by BCPS as a “work made for hire.” 

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, a work for hire is defined as follows: Although the general rule is that the person who creates the work is its author, there is an exception to that principle. The exception is a work made for hire, which is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment or a work specially ordered or commissioned in certain specified circumstances. When a work qualifies as a work made for hire, the employer, or commissioning party, is considered to be the author. See Circular 9, Work-Made-For-Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act.

Works Made for Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act (Circular 9)
Published by the U.S. Copyright Office and provides detailed information regarding Employer–Employee Relationship Under Agency Law. To help determine who is an employee, the Supreme Court in CCNV v. Reid, 490 U.S. 430, 751-2 (1989) identified certain factors that characterize an “employer-employee” relationship as defined by agency law.