YANML: Intellectual Property Ownership Question (UK).
June 11, 2010 1:08 PM Subscribe
YANML: Intellectual Property Ownership Question (UK). Protecting my IP from an old employer.
I am about to terminate my employment to start my own business. Some of the IP (web software) I will be using has been created during my current employment.
My contract implies that any "Relevant Intellectual Property" created during my employment is owned by the company. I don't believe the work I have produced is at all relevant to the company (it is a completely different field). But there is a chance that through bitterness they would try to claim ownership, which may not be worth me fighting in court.
2 Questions then:
- If they do decide to cause trouble, is there anything stopping me giving them the old IP, and recreating, from memory, the software I had written (none of the works are patentable)?
- Once I have left my employment, how can I ensure that any new code I write is safe; such that if they come back at a later date and demand the IP, I can prove which bits were written during my employment, and which bits are completely mine.
I know you are not my lawyer, but any suggestions at this stage would be great. Throway email for follow up: throwaway1231@hotmail.com
I am about to terminate my employment to start my own business. Some of the IP (web software) I will be using has been created during my current employment.
My contract implies that any "Relevant Intellectual Property" created during my employment is owned by the company. I don't believe the work I have produced is at all relevant to the company (it is a completely different field). But there is a chance that through bitterness they would try to claim ownership, which may not be worth me fighting in court.
2 Questions then:
- If they do decide to cause trouble, is there anything stopping me giving them the old IP, and recreating, from memory, the software I had written (none of the works are patentable)?
- Once I have left my employment, how can I ensure that any new code I write is safe; such that if they come back at a later date and demand the IP, I can prove which bits were written during my employment, and which bits are completely mine.
I know you are not my lawyer, but any suggestions at this stage would be great. Throway email for follow up: throwaway1231@hotmail.com
I am not sure how this is worded in UK contracts, but in the US the relevant language would be "work for hire". If you did work for hire, they own it no matter how relevant or irrelevant it is. This is generally how all IP contracts in these kind of employer-employee situations are set up.
posted by bradbane at 1:14 PM on June 11, 2010
posted by bradbane at 1:14 PM on June 11, 2010
If you did work for hire, they own it no matter how relevant or irrelevant it is.
Not in the UK. Also, doesn't apply here anyway since the OP was an employee not a contractor/freelancer (unless they also hired him to right the software on his own time but it doesn't sound like that is the case here).
Did you create the software on their time or on their equipment? If you wrote it in your own time using your own equipment but specifically for them that's a murkier issue. You really need to speak to a lawyer.
posted by missmagenta at 1:27 PM on June 11, 2010
Not in the UK. Also, doesn't apply here anyway since the OP was an employee not a contractor/freelancer (unless they also hired him to right the software on his own time but it doesn't sound like that is the case here).
Did you create the software on their time or on their equipment? If you wrote it in your own time using your own equipment but specifically for them that's a murkier issue. You really need to speak to a lawyer.
posted by missmagenta at 1:27 PM on June 11, 2010
I think missmagenta gets to the heart of it. If you created it on their time or using their equipment, it's theirs.
posted by IanMorr at 1:39 PM on June 11, 2010
posted by IanMorr at 1:39 PM on June 11, 2010
Contracts usually specify "created during your employment" as yours does, which can mean anything you made for the duration of your contract, as opposed to the duration of your work hours. I make an X by that section and initial it when I sign, though I've yet to try to enforce that legally.
Whether or not your company is going to try to make a move on your IP lies entirely with the ethos of your company, and probably with the visibility and value of the work you embark upon.
People I know who create valuable IP for a living (princes of the patent office!) usually bring in the lawyers when leaving a company and settle this issue with legally binding documents between them and the company, explicitly releasing any hold.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 4:09 PM on June 11, 2010
Whether or not your company is going to try to make a move on your IP lies entirely with the ethos of your company, and probably with the visibility and value of the work you embark upon.
People I know who create valuable IP for a living (princes of the patent office!) usually bring in the lawyers when leaving a company and settle this issue with legally binding documents between them and the company, explicitly releasing any hold.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 4:09 PM on June 11, 2010
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posted by nadawi at 1:13 PM on June 11, 2010