IS A COPYRIGHT THE WAY TO PROTECT YOUR WORK FOR A VENDOR?
NOTE: The following information is provided for informational purposes. There have been individuals who have put forth on other forums that an adjuster may simply put a copyright symbol (C w/ a circle around it) on your estimate and that will prevent a vendor or carrier from using that estimate without payment to you. This discourse is offered so as to clear up any misconceptions regarding that practice and the legal issues involved.
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Problem: You have just spent countless hours scoping, preparing the estimate and putting a file together just to have a vendor and/or carrier take all your work and give it to someone else to make a few changes on and receive the fee payment! What do you do?
Opinion: Contrary to popular belief and practice, merely placing a copyright symbol on a written work does not automatically make it a protected item. There are many complex issues involved.
First – copyrights are intended only to protect the expression of an idea, NOT the idea itself. The expression of an idea is considered to be intellectual property. The various forms of intellectual property are categorized into legal frameworks which seek to promote the conversion of ideas into results. I will not go into all of the different groups involved in the field of intellectual property but will focus on copyright itself.
A copyright is defined as “an intangible, incorporeal right granted by statute to an author or originator of certain literary or artistic productions…” (Black’s Law Dictionary)
There are 8 categories of copyrightable works: (1) literary works, (2) musical works,
(3) dramatic works, (4) pantomimes and choreographic works, (5) pictorial, graphics and sculptural works, (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works, (7) sound recordings
and (8) architectural works.
As defined, the production of an estimate for damages under an insurance contract is NOT copyrightable to the adjuster who wrote the estimate. This is due primarily to the fact that the estimate is not an ORIGINAL EXPRESSION OF AN IDEA. It is the assembly of objective information into a readable form using a variety of mediums, some of which have been protected by copyright in their own right! What an adjuster produces is considered a “work for hire”. Any copyright protections which may arise are owned by the employer.
What develops when a vendor or carrier does not pay the full amount due under a fee schedule or has arbitrarily reduced the amount is a CONTRACT DISPUTE. Nothing more and nothing less. If you are worried that the issue may arise during the course of your assignment with a vendor, the proper time to address that is at the onset of your acceptance of claim assignments. If you so wish, you may attempt to negotiate with the vendor the guidelines under which fee adjustments can be made. Keep in mind that unless you are the world’s best adjuster and have vendors lined up wanting you, it is
doubtful your negotiating position is very strong. The only legal recourse is to take them
to court on each file in question. By separating each file into an individual action, you can file in small claims court and handle them yourself. (You probably want to look for
another line of work after all the dust settles though ‘cause no one will hire you after
that!)
My suggestion is that you do the work contracted for in such a professional way that it is beyond reproach.
You research the companies you work for prior to going out for them and…
At the FIRST instance of questionable behavior, you terminate the contract, don’t wait until the storm is over.
(This forum is locked at this point so as to make the subject matter more easily found if
anyone is researching this topic. If you wish to discuss the issues raised, please go to the
forum entitled “Estimate Copyright Discussion”)
http://www.catadjuster.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=922 |
Is it proper to 'copyright' an estimate?
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Posted - 03/29/2004 : 16:48:40
