# Who owns the copyright?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright/593865>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 24, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright/593865 "2011-08-24T04:25:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 31

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-the-copyright/593865/31 "2011-08-24T17:33:49Z")

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(Can I make a second request for you to use the native quoting function? You’re making more work for the rest of us.)

> [@Chronos](#):
>
> It’s my understanding that oral contracts are perfectly legitimate, so long as there’s no dispute between the parties to the contract as to what the contract was. And it looks like, in this case, there’s no dispute between the OP and the band.

Oral contracts _in general_ are legitimate under state contract law. However, oral agreements are not effective in certain specifical contexts, for example, under the Statute of Frauds. And, specifically, as I said, the Copyright Act of 1976, which _preempts all state law in the relevant field_, states that agreements that a work is a work made for hire _must be written_. This overrides the general effectiveness of oral contracts. I’ll quote the relevant statute again:

> [@17 U.S.C. §201(b)](#):
>
> (b) Works Made for Hire. — In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have **expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them** , owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.

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