Hi-Tech Video Productions v. Capital Cities/ABC

Hi-Tech Video Productions, Inc. (Hi-Tech) (plaintiff) was a commercial production company that also made Michigan-based travel videos. Hi-Tech’s owner and sole employee, Stan Akey, hired three crew members—an aerial videographer, a screenwriter and narrator, and a principal videographer—to help him make a video about Mackinac Island. Akey referred to the crew as freelancers and independent contractors. Hi-Tech did not withhold payroll taxes from the crew members’ compensation or provide benefits. Akey did some of the shooting and assembled the finished product. Akey registered the copyright in the video as a work made for hire, which afforded stronger protection than a standard copyright. Later that year, the producers of Good Morning America, a news program of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (defendant), sought to create a segment on Mackinac Island’s annual lilac festival. An associate producer reached out to the Mackinac Island Chamber of Commerce for stock footage. The chamber provided two videos, one of which was Hi-Tech’s video. Shots from the video were incorporated into the segment. Hi-Tech brought a copyright-infringement action in federal district court. The court found that Hi-Tech’s copyright was validly registered as a work made for hire—the crew members being employees of Hi-Tech, rather than independent contractors—in large part because of the degree of control that Hi-Tech exercised over the crew. ABC appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted certiorari.