{"id":4865,"date":"2018-03-07T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T09:27:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-09-30T11:34:25","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T11:34:25","slug":"stevenson-jordan-v-harrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/cases\/stevenson-jordan-v-harrison.php","title":{"rendered":"Stevenson, Jordan Harrison Ltd v MacDonald & Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legal Case Brief<\/h2>\n

Stevenson, Jordan Harrison Ltd v MacDonald & Evans [1952] 1 TLR 101<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definition of an employee under a \u2018contract of service\u2019 for the purposes of determining the copyright of a work.<\/p>\n

Facts<\/h3>\n

An engineer wrote a book that used knowledge that he acquired whilst he was working for a firm in different capacities. Section 5(1) of the Copyright Act 1911<\/a> provides that that if the author of a work was under \u201ca contract of service,\u201d then the first owner of the copyright shall be the person by whom the author was employed.<\/p>\n

Issues<\/h3>\n

The question arose as to whether the person was considered to be an employee under a \u201ccontract of service\u201d for the purposes of allotting copyright to the employer under Section 5(1) of the Copyright Act 1911.<\/p>\n

Decision\/Outcome<\/h3>\n

The Court distinguished between a \u201ccontract of service\u201d and \u201ccontract for services\u201d provided to the firm. The Court applied the traditional \u2018control test\u2019 concerning whether the employer has the right to control the way in which a person does the work. The Court further stipulated that a person is considered an employee under a \u201ccontract of service\u201d when the work is integrated in that of the business and considered an integral part of the business, whereas an independent contractor for services is merely an accessory to the business and, thus, not an employee. On the facts of the case, the Court concluded that the engineer\u2019s contract was mixed between the two at different times. It held that the engineer was the author of the work, but that specific material that he acquired whilst he was an employee fell within the Copyright Act 1911 and should be excluded from the publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Definition of an employee under a \u2018contract of service\u2019 for the purposes of determining the copyright of a work. An engineer wrote a book that used knowledge that he acquired whilst he was working for a firm in different capacities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-4865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"\nStevenson, Jordan Harrison Ltd v MacDonald & Evans | LawTeacher.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Definition of an employee under a \u2018contract of service\u2019 for the purposes of determining the copyright of a work. 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