Patent rights created by employees or independent contractors in California can be the source of expensive disputes over who owns what. Different rules can apply depending on whether the person who did the inventive work for the business is an employee or an independent contractor, and in California, mistakenly characterizing one as the other can lead to serious penalties.
For different reasons, both businesses and workers may prefer to characterize the worker’s status as that of an independent contractor instead of an employee. Businesses may want to avoid having to pay payroll taxes and providing workers’ compensation insurance. Anti-discrimination and retaliation laws only protect employees, but not independent contractors. Some businesses may simply see workers as outliving their usefulness from one project to another. For their part, workers may wish to receive more compensation “up front” rather than having taxes taken out of their paychecks, or have the freedom to take on projects for other businesses.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
