>>>The very fact that Steven referred to someone he's working for as his "boss" makes it sound more like an employee/employer relationship than a consulting arrangement.
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>>I didn't read it that way. Steven didn't say his boss threatened to fire him, which would have been the case if Steven was an employee. In any event, I think it's pretty clear that if you're an employee, your employer owns the results of your work.
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>The tricky question is "Are you an employee?" As you probably know, the IRS has 20 questions they use to determine this. Of course, there's no standard to determine whether your answers to the 20 questions make you an employee or not. This means that many cases can be sketchy. If you work at the company's site, they provide the equipment, and you are supervised by an employee of the company, you're probably an employee (according to the IRS). To make things even more complicated, I have no idea how this is determined for the purposes of copyright law.
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>Just more reasons to talk to a lawyer and get it in writing!


The other biggie that needs to be thrown into the IRS discussion is how he gets paid. Is it a payroll check? Does the company collect and pay taxes for him or is it a 1099?