Jou
Jou v. Accurate Research, Inc.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Plaintiff Monica Jou brought this action against Defendants Accurate Research, Inc., and its owners Eric Ho and Cathy Wang Ho, alleging copyright infringement and various claims under state law. The district court granted summary judgment to Defendants on the ground that Plaintiff did not own valid copyrights to the software that Defendants allegedly infringed. Reviewing de novo, Robi v. Reed, 173 F.3d 736, 739 (9th Cir.1999), we affirm.
A. Works for Hire
Plaintiff claimed sole ownership of the copyrights in the software as works made for hire. 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 , 201(b). *966 Applying the factors from Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730, 751-52 , 109 S.Ct. 2166 , 104 L.Ed.2d 811 (1989), we agree with the district court that the creators of the work were independent contractors, not Plaintiffs employees. Therefore, Plaintiff cannot establish ownership of the software as works made for hire.
Plaintiffs staffers were highly-skilled computer programmers. The record does not show that Plaintiff retained the right to control the manner or means by which the programmers performed their work. During the last quarter of 1995, Plaintiff had an office,…