RE: Re: Owner as author?

From: Grierson, Kevin <kgrierson[_at_]wilsav.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:55:02 -0400

If Bob is an officer or director of the company, he may have a fiduciary obligation to contribute his rights to the company even if he's not statutorily an employee. A lot depends on his ownership status.

Kwg

Kevin W. Grierson, Esq.
Registered Patent Attorney
Intellectual Property Group

Willcox & Savage, P.C.
One Commercial Place, Ste. 1800
Norfolk, Virginia 23510

kgrierson[_at_]wilsav.com
ph: 757/628-5603 fx: 757/628-5566
www.willcoxsavage.com  

-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property [mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHT[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of John Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 2:51 PM
To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property Subject: [CNI-(C)] Re: Owner as author?

>I have an interesting situation in which the part-owner of a company
>(we'll call him Bob) created a work subject to copyright protection
>intended for use by the company. Bob was employed elsewhere and
>drew no salary or benefits from the company he owned. He created
>the work and gave it to his company to use. Work made for hire?
>Assignment? Case law?
>

There's ton of caselaw. My initial reaction is that he gave the company a copy of his software and an implied license to use it, which should be revocable.

John Noble

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Willcox & Savage P.C. Received on Wed Apr 13 2005 - 00:55:02 GMT