hai,i have question about articles copyright.there's alot of people here in DP offering their writing services and people pay for their article.my question is,who owns the articles?is it the writers or the people that pay the writers?what about their copyright?thankx.
Depends on the contract/agreement you have with them. Usually: Copyright remains with the writer - and you pay for a license to use the article. This license can be exclusive (so nobody else can use the article but you).
It would be unwise to pay someone to write something for you and then let the author keep the copyright. You should insist on a contract that provides you (the buyer) with all rights to the purchased text, including copyright.
If they are a real writer, then it will cost atleast twice as much to get exclusive rights and probably three to five times as much for you to own the rights (they have value and writers won't give them up for free). If you are talking about the writers that are writing articles at a rate of like 20 for a dollar, then whether they sign a contract or not probably makes no difference as a) the articles are so poor that nobody will want to copy them or b) they probably do not have the copyright to the articles they supply to you in the first place because they are either directly copied from other sources or taken from elsewhere and run through a rewritting program (meaning derivative works). That is not always the case, but for the most part.
Just to add, for you to obtain the copyright, the contract has to specify that the article is written as a "work for hire", as long as the subject matter falls into one of the specific categories outlined in copyright law. The US Copyright office has more information: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf Also, the basics: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html There is more about contracts here: http://www.unionwriters.org/biztech/contract-tips.php If you are hiring someone to write for a use not outlined above, you may be able to pay for exclusive rights, but the writer will retain the copyright.