Re: Re: Owner as author?

I have not read CCNV in a while, but traditional agency principles do not turn an owner's contribution into a work made for hire. I think the traditional agency principles you refer to are only useful in determining which kind of agent an author is -- an employee or a contractor, depending on the measure of control exercised by the principal/corporation. The owner of the corporation here is not an employee or a contractor, and the fact that he may be another kind of agent as owner of the corporation argues against a finding of work-made-for-hire, in my opinion.

John Noble

At 4:55 PM -0400 4/12/05, Heather Vargas wrote:
>That was my initial reaction too, but it seems an odd result under
>the circumstances. An employer is deemed the author of a work made
>for hire because a corporation can only act through its employees.
>In these circumstances, the owner is the employer. It seems even
>more logical then that an entity acts through its owners who
>therefore should be deemed to have created a work in the line of
>business of the corporation as a "work made for hire." Of course,
>the statute only says "employees." But in CCNV v. Reid, the Supreme
>Court said that "employee" is determined under traditional agency
>principals. Who is more logically an "agent" of an entity than its
>owner?
>
>
>At 02:50 PM 4/11/2005 -0400, John wrote:
>
>>>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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Received on Thu Apr 14 2005 - 00:14:59 GMT