Legal advice

You are asking important legal questions the answers to which
could have serious consequences for your business.

People on forums will be more than happy to chime in and
give you what they think are definitive answers. They can't
possibly know that because they really don't know much
about your situation other than the sketchy outline you've
provided.

You need to seek competent legal advice from an attorney
whose job it is to protect your interests. You can find many
of them in your local telephone book... look for lawyers who
specialize in business law.

Tsnyder

Martin,

While those would be good documents to use, and certainly some of what I usually recommend, there is more to your post re hiring someone from the Philippines.

No one knows where you are at. No one knows what work you are involved in. Or what the value is. Or what risks you really have.

If we assume you are in the US looking to outsource work to someone in the Philippines, assignment of copyright is always a good idea so you can own and then protect your rights.

But then there is a practical question.

What if you hire someone from another country and they run off with your stuff and sell it to someone else, use it, etc.

Are you willing to spend the time and money to enforce your rights? Are you going to have any success enforcing rights or US judgments in the Philippines? Will it make economic sense?

Don't forget that a rogue contractor may sell your property to someone in the US - in which event you may still want to be in a legal position to protect yourself from what that person is doing.

Although you came here looking for answers, asking for "legal advice" is not something you will get on a public forum. But by getting more questions back, and asking yourself what the answers to those questions are, you will likely solve this for yourself.

I personally use a work-for-hire agreement (answering your question about independent contractors vs. employees) and a hybrid of an agreement that is non-disclosure/non-compete.

There are tons of places online where you can find sample documents.

You should, however, seek legal advice of your own to be sure you are doing the right thing. You don't necessarily have to see a lawyer. There are some legal assistance places online you can turn to as well.

there is no need for any sort of agreements because they are honest and they want to lose their job by committing something cheap

Non-disclosure agreements. I just had to sign one because I became a beta-tester for an online game. I am an outsourced worker and I am interacting with intellectual property that is not meant for the masses yet. I will get into big trouble if I for example put a youtube video up of me playing the game.

However, if they hadn't made me sign one you could bet the farm I would already have a site up dedicated to showing off the game as a beta-tester. Could you imagine the pre-orders I could generate through that!?

In a nutshell get a non-disclosure agreement drawn up by a lawyer. End of problem (well until someone breaks it).

International work for hire agreements are seldom worth more than the paper it takes to print them on unless you have the funds to pursue a broken contract.

If you are really concerned about your protection try to find someone in your country. It is much easier to enforce a contract on your home soil than across international borders.

If you are determined to move forward with this IC, find an attorney specializing in international business law. Even if you can't hire one full time, you can post a question on one of the lawyer bulletin boards to get an idea of what parameters you need to set up.