Who made the archive
Does a company own its employees' documents? US and UK law
Updated
A training buyer asks whether the company owns what it licenses. For documents staff wrote in their jobs the answer is usually yes; for work bought from outside it depends on the paperwork.
Ask about my company archive Most platforms we read leave the files with you, but the ownership of each document and the company's own status decide what can be sold. Tell us what you hold and we will write back.
Staff work in the UK
Where a literary or artistic work is made by an employee in the course of employment, the employer is the first owner of the copyright, subject to any agreement to the contrary. A database made the same way has the employer as its maker for database right, which lasts fifteen years from the end of the year it was completed.
Source: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, s11
Work made for hire in the US
A work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment is a work made for hire, and the employer is considered its author and owns all the rights unless both sides signed a written instrument saying otherwise. Copyright in such a work lasts 95 years from first publication or 120 from creation, whichever ends first.
Source: US Copyright Office, Circular 30
Freelancers and agencies
An assignment of copyright in the UK has no effect unless it is in writing and signed by the assignor, and a US transfer of ownership is not valid without a signed written instrument. Documents a contractor made stay the contractor's until such an assignment exists.
Source: Who owns a company archive, and where it goes at closure