Re: Work done "in course of employment" - by a minor

Incapacity from being a minor typically means the contract is voidable, not that the contract is void or that what was done is undone. See Restatement (2d) Contracts §14.

Generally, a minor cannot void a fully executed contract.

Also, note that the minor was in fact an employee and was doing the work in the course and scope of his employment -- that, not minority, is the copyright test for wmfh. Indeed, one could make a plausible argument that state law of contract that would lead to a contrary result (e.g., limited capacity to enter into a contract) is preempted as to this point.

The prior employer owns the code as a wmfh.

On May 11, 2006, at 6:55 PM, Mike Holderness wrote:

> I hope someone can give me a pointer on this one, or at least have fun
> with it...
>
>
> A wishes to enter into a partnership to produce a website with B, a US
> resident, currently 18 years old, using computer programs written
> by B.
>
> B says he originally wrote the program while an employee of a
> company who
> he has now fallen out with. He feels that he can now carry on using
> the
> program as he was 16 when he created it and therefore the contract he
> signed with the company stating that he was an employee and therefore
> relinquishing his rights was invalid as he was a minor at the time.
>
> A proposes that the agreement with B will include a clause where
> "we state
> that we own the rights to our respective creations and agree to
> indemnify
> each other against any losses incurred as a result of any legal action
> resulting from (c) infringement".
>
> So:
>
> Who owns B's code?
>
> A is thinking of approaching the company for a licence. Is this
> necessary?
>
> Mike
>

-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                                 vox:  202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                       fax:  202-806-8428
2900 Van Ness Street NW                         
mailto:stevenjamar[_at_]gmail.com
Washington, DC  20008      http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar

"God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be  
changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and  
the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

Reinhold Neibuhr 1943