Intellectual Property Rights

Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid

490 U.S. 730 (1989)

Facts

The Community for Creative Non-Violence (“CCNV”) planned a sculpture highlighting homelessness.
CCNV engaged sculptor James Earl Reid to create a work later titled Third World America.
CCNV supplied the general concept of a homeless family on a sidewalk and suggested some design details.
Reid created the sculpture in his own studio.
He used his own tools, controlled the production process and hired assistants.
CCNV paid an agreed price but did not provide employee benefits or withhold taxes.
The parties did not sign a written agreement declaring the sculpture a work made for hire.
After the work was completed, both claimed copyright ownership.
CCNV argued that Reid was its employee and that the sculpture was a work made for hire.
Reid claimed authorship as an independent contractor.

Whether Reid was an employee or an independent contractor for copyright purposes.
Whether the sculpture qualified as a commissioned work made for hire.
Who owned the initial copyright.

A work is made for hire where:
it is created by an employee within the scope of employment; or
it falls within one of the specified statutory categories of commissioned works and the parties sign a written agreement.
“Employee” is determined through common-law agency principles.
Relevant factors include:
control over the manner of work;
skill required;
source of tools;
location;
duration;
method of payment;
hiring of assistants;
employee benefits;
tax treatment;
regular business of the hiring party.
No single factor is conclusive.

CCNV controlled the broad concept and made suggestions, but Reid retained control over artistic execution.
Sculpture required specialised artistic skill.
Reid worked in his own studio and supplied his own tools.
He hired and paid assistants.
The engagement concerned one project rather than an indefinite employment relationship.
Reid was paid a fixed amount rather than a regular salary.
CCNV did not provide benefits or treat him as an employee for tax purposes.
These factors strongly indicated independent-contractor status.
The Court rejected reliance solely on CCNV’s right to approve the final work.
A client commonly specifies desired results without becoming the employer of an independent professional.
Because Reid was not an employee, the first work-for-hire category did not apply.
A sculpture was not one of the statutory categories that could become a commissioned work for hire under the parties’ arrangement.
In any event, there was no signed written agreement.
Reid was therefore the statutory author and initial owner.
The Court noted that CCNV members may have made creative contributions capable of supporting joint authorship.
That separate issue had not been fully resolved and was remanded.
The decision created a uniform agency-based test rather than allowing different copyright definitions of “employee.”

The Supreme Court held that Reid was an independent contractor, not CCNV’s employee.
The sculpture was not a work made for hire.
Reid was its initial author, subject to possible joint-authorship claims on remand.
Use this case for: employee status in work-for-hire disputes is determined by common-law agency factors, not merely by the hiring party’s control over the project’s general concept.