Copyright Ownership
Intellectual Property Information Center at Kansas State University Online Tutorial on Copyright Basics
Copyright is generally owned by the author, the employer, or the publisher of the work. In the case of a work made for hire, the employer is generally the copyright owner if the work was created by an employee within the scope of their employment, absent a contract. Many publishers will request or require that you transfer the copyright of the work they are publishing over to them.
An independent contractor is the copyright owner if a work is specially ordered or commissioned as a contribution to a collective work and a written contract signed BEFORE the work is started.
The full definition of "work for hire" is found in Section 101 of the copyright law and described in the Copyright Office’s Circular 9.