JustMed, Inc. v. Byce
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
600 F.3d 1118 (2010)
Joel Just and Michael Byce (defendant) developed the idea for a digital audio larynx to help laryngectomy patients speak. Just and his wife founded JustMed, Inc. (plaintiff) in 2003; Byce initially just sat on the board, while Jerome Liebler handled most software development, paid half in salary and half in company shares. When Liebler's involvement ended, Byce took over the coding, working remotely on his own schedule, without standard employment paperwork or benefits. Only in the final three months before August 2005 was Byce paid half his salary in cash and had taxes withheld for the first time. After August 2005, Byce deleted the code from JustMed's system, and JustMed sued; Byce removed the case to federal court, where the parties disputed under the Copyright Act's work-for-hire doctrine whether Byce had written the code as an employee or an independent contractor. The district court found Byce was an employee and that JustMed owned the copyright, and Byce appealed.
Whether the factors used to decide if someone worked as an employee, for purposes of the copyright work-for-hire doctrine, must be evaluated in light of the hiring company's own particular circumstances.