Intellectual Property (IP) remains a muddled and thorny issue for freelancers and their employers. Let’s say you have a creation in mind. You know how it should be, where it should be, and when, but for the life of you, your output always wound up making some 6 years old doodle look like a masterpiece. So, you decided to hire a professional — online, instead of knocking from door to door — and tell them what you want. This professional will take this wild frontier in your head and give form to the formless entity you’ve been trying to conjure. All under your directives, of course. But then, who does this entity belongs to in the end? The one who thought it up or the one who gave form to it? Most times it’s easier to try and solve the chicken and the egg question rather than answering that. However, it’s one thing to “dream” about something, it’s another thing to “conceive” it.

So who is the owner?

A freelancer’s unique creation is their livelihood. No one wants to engage the services of a freelancer just to have the same exact copy as one-thousand-and-one other clients before then. That’s what book signings are meant for. Most times when an employer pays for your creative services, they simply are paying for the right to use your skills. Your unique creations are your property — be it a sample portfolio piece or a commissioned work. You thought it up, you brought it to life, and it wouldn’t have existed in its current state of existence without your input. But does the service fee mean you’ve been paid off?

Depending on the contract.

Technically, the service fee paid is for the right to use the intellectual property. However, with most freelancers treating most service engagements as a short-term employment, protecting their property tends to be secondary to getting paid until the job they got paid $2,000 goes on to gross $8,000,000 and they find themselves unable to get in on the action. Of course, you could beg and try to appeal to their humanity, but without a contract stipulating further compensation they literally owe you nothing.

Understanding ownership rights can go a long way in helping freelancers protect their work, profit from future usage of their work and improve productivity.

So, how do you go about protecting your rights? Simple. It all starts with the contract — or in the Hiway’s case — the workforce marketplace of the future — the smart contract.

Smart Contract, Smart Pay

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and whilst it’s true that the beholder’s eye is often prejudiced towards its own creation, there are times the eye can tell that this beauty is the one to go places. The only way to protect it is by having a contract containing a detailed IP clause covering the following aspects:

Time: Is the client’s right ownership temporary or permanent?

Acknowledgement: Will the client and/or users have to mention you as the creator everything they use the services?

Reuse: Can your work be used in another project by the same client?

Accessibility: Is the right universal or limited to a certain region, country, or location?

Right Distribution: Can the right be transferred to another entity?

Right Transfer: When exactly does the right transfer to the client — before or after the job is done?

With these in mind, protecting your work is just a matter of inserting the right clauses into the contract. However, ensuring that the contract holds up is another issue altogether. Not to worry, Hiway’s blockchain-based smart contract ensures the permanence of every clause and its execution. Freelancers and clients can agree on the terms and compensation model before kicking off production, eliminating any and all ambiguity.

Hiway will also ensure that all shared progress and assets are locked to the freelancer’s account and will only the transferred to the client, based on the terms of engagement to prevent IP theft. If any of the parties opt to have a jury to ensure quality, they too will be bound by the lock.

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