Who Owns the Work Your Agency's Freelancers Create?
If your agency uses freelancers, you may be promising clients ownership of work your agency never actually acquired.
Agency client agreements usually promise that the client will own the final deliverables. That promise only works if the agency owns them first. When the work was made by freelancers, many agencies do not.
The default rule surprises people
Under federal copyright law, the person who creates a work generally owns it. There is an exception for employees: work an employee creates within the scope of their job belongs to the employer. Independent contractors are different. A freelance designer, editor, copywriter, or photographer generally keeps the copyright in what they create, even after you pay the invoice, unless there is a signed written agreement that transfers it.
Why "work made for hire" is not a cure-all
Many contractor agreements simply call everything "work made for hire." For independent contractors, the Copyright Act only allows that treatment for certain categories of work, such as a contribution to a collective work or part of an audiovisual work, and only with a written agreement signed by both parties. A logo, a website design, or a set of brand photographs may not fit those categories. When the label does not apply, the clause may not transfer anything.
The fix is to pair the work made for hire language with a written assignment of copyright. If the work qualifies as work made for hire, the agency owns it from the start. If it does not, the assignment transfers ownership anyway.
What your contractor agreement should cover
- Work made for hire language plus a backup assignment. Belt and suspenders, in a document the freelancer signs.
- Drafts, raw files, and source files. Not just the final deliverable, if your clients expect those too.
- Pre-existing materials. Fonts, templates, stock assets, and tools the freelancer brings with them should be licensed, and disclosed.
- Portfolio use. Whether the freelancer can show the work, and when, so it does not conflict with client confidentiality.
- Confidentiality. Client information and unreleased campaigns stay private.
Make the chain match
Ownership should flow in a straight line: from the freelancer to the agency, and from the agency to the client under the terms of your client agreement. If any link is missing, the client may not own what it paid for, and the agency is the one who promised it would. The same logic applies to creator content your agency places for brands, which we cover in UGC vs. influencer contracts.
If your agency is protecting its own name as it grows, see should I trademark my business name. Contractor, talent and client agreements for agencies are part of our creator economy practice.
Common questions
Does my agency own work created by a freelancer?
Not automatically. Copyright generally belongs to the person who created the work. Work by an employee within the scope of employment belongs to the employer, but work by an independent contractor usually stays with the contractor unless there is a valid written agreement transferring it.
Is a work made for hire clause enough for freelancers?
Often not. For independent contractors, work made for hire applies only to specific categories of work listed in the Copyright Act, and only with a signed written agreement. A written assignment is usually needed as a backup.
What if my agency already delivered freelancer work to a client?
It can usually be fixed with a written assignment from the freelancer now. The longer you wait, the harder it may be to locate the freelancer or get their signature.
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