[FWD: RE: [Ebxmlrr-tech] License issue with our customer]

Wendy Seltzer wseltzer at eon.law.harvard.edu
Wed May 3 18:39:31 UTC 2006


At 02:27 PM 5/3/2006 -0400, Russ Nelson wrote:
>I'm not a lawyer; this isn't a legal opinion; and it isn't even an
>official OSI position.

IAAL, but this is not legal advice.

>Unless you've made some other arrangement, the default ownership of
>copyright goes to whoever paid for the creative effort ("A Work for
>Hire").

This is not true.  Whether something is a work for hire depends on 
the specific circumstances of its creation.  By default, copyright 
belongs to the person who authored the work.

The work will be deemed "for hire" only if made by an employee in the 
scope of employment (not an independent contractor) or if the 
work-for-hire relationship is spelled out in a contract or the payor 
directed the effort, with precise instructions and oversight.

--Wendy

-- 
Wendy Seltzer -- wendy at seltzer.com
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
Chilling Effects: http://www.chillingeffects.org




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