Court Opinion

ID: 9488240
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:39:54.650726+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:46.379973
License: Public Domain

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Akey’s production assistants were not “employees.” Contrary to the majority, I believe the factors set forth in Community for Creative Nonviolence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730, 750-51, 109 S.Ct. 2166, 2178-79, 104 L.Ed.2d 811 (1989) (hereinafter CCNV), for determining employee status weigh in favor of finding that the production assistants were indeed employees.
The issue turns on 17 U.S.C. § 101, which was authoritatively interpreted in CCNV, where the Supreme Court unanimously held that an association could not copyright a work created by a particular sculptor because the sculptor was an independent contractor, rather than an employee, of the association. CCNV, 490 U.S. at 751-53, 109 S.Ct. at 2179-80. Section 101 provides that a work is made “for hire,” and accordingly copyrightable by the employer, under two sets of circumstances:
(1) a work [is] prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or
(2) a work [is] specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire.
17 U.S.C. § 101 (1988).
Thus, under subsection (1) Hi-Tech may copyright the works of its employees without any restrictions, but under subsection (2) ■ it may only copyright the works of independent contractors if it obtained written permission. Because no such agreement was signed here, the question turns on whether “employees” *1100made the video. CCNV provides the following guidance in this regard:
To determine whether a work is for hire under the Act, a court first should ascertain, using general principles of general common law of agency, whether the work was prepared by an employee or an independent contractor.
... In determining whether a hired party is an employee under the general common law of agency, we consider the hiring party’s right to control the manner and means by which the product is accomplished. Among the other factors relevant to this inquiry are the skill required; the source of the instrumentalities and tools; the location of the work; the duration of the relationship between the parties; whether the hiring party has the right to assign additional projects to the hired party; the extent of the hired party’s discretion over when and how long to work; the method of payment; the hired party’s role in hiring and paying assistants; whether the work is part of the regular business of the hiring party; whether the hiring party is in business; the provision of employee benefits; and the tax treatment of the hired party. No one of these factors is determinative.
490 U.S. at 751-52, 109 S.Ct. at 2178-79 (footnotes and citations omitted).
It is undisputed that Akey was clearly an employee of Hi-Tech.1 He hired others to do some of the camera work. He, himself, however, shot the scene of the island from an aircraft, which was used on “Good Morning America”, and he, himself, edited and composed the film from the footage that others shot. He also designed the packaging of the work. Thus, he was an employee who “prepared” the work under § 101(1). I believe that this is, in itself, enough to establish that Hi-Tech could copyright the work as the “work for hire” of an employee.
Akey did delegate some of the creative work to others. Mike Mueller, whom Akey referred to as a non-employee, shot most of thé film. J.A. at 113-14. Akey, however, maintained control over the work. Akey was obviously skilled and experienced at video production work. See, e.g., J.A. at 96 (Akey discussing technicalities of splicing film shots to make a “fade out” transition in film). This seems quite different from the situation in CCNV, where non-artists in an anti-homelessness agency hired a sculptor to create a sculpture. The CCNV factors that support a work for hire in the instant case include: (1) the hiring party’s right to control the manner and means by which the product is accomplished (Akey maintained full control over the final product — what shots would be included, what order, the transitions, etc.); (2) the source of the instrumentalities (Akey supplied the cameras and other equipment); (3) the hired party’s role in hiring and paying assistants (Akey completely controlled all aspects of hiring and paying assistants); (4) whether the work is part of the regular business of the hiring party (making videos was Akey’s business, unlike the association in CCNV); and (5) whether the hiring party is in business (same).
Finally, I note that the district court found that “the vast majority of the creativity that was encompassed in this work was the work that Mr. Akey did by putting it all together, sequencing it, and packaging it as it was done.” J.A. at 179. This is a finding of fact that should not be disturbed, and lends support to the conclusion that the video was a product of Akey, as a Hi-Tech employee. Moreover, the cases from other circuits applying CCNV are not especially relevant here, as each includes different circumstances than those now at issue. Therefore, I would affirm the district court’s determination that this was a work for hire.
I respectfully dissent.

. Akey was the only "employee," in the usual sense; other people were hired to do specific things.