Comment by lmm

You haven't quoted anything about this supposed "duty of due diligence" which is what I asked for.

> In the case of a work made for hire...

Per what I quoted in my last post, commissioned works in the usual sense are not normally "works made for hire" so none of that applies.

> respondeat superior, a common law principle that holds employers legally responsible for the acts of an employee, if such acts are within the scope and nature of the employment.

i.e. exactly what I said a couple of posts back: "If your employee violates copyright in the course of working for you then you might be responsible for that, but that's for the same reason that you might be responsible for any other crimes your employee might commit in the course of working for you, not because you have some special copyright-specific responsibility."