Calif. Employment Ruling Raises Copyright Ownership Questions

A California state court ruling has raised concerns in the legal community about its potential impact on copyright ownership.

The California Supreme Court in late April created a new standard to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles. The difference may be a critical one in the gig economy high technology and entertainment industries.

The ruling adopted a simple three-part test for deciding whether a worker is covered by state employment protections. It replaced a complex multi-factor consideration and put the burden on companies to ...