We all daydream about what it would be like if we came up with ‘the next big thing’.
What if you created the new Facebook or Twitter or even a product to replace arm bands or the equivalent of a pool noodle? Society is hungry for ‘the new’ and if you can tap into this and satiate its appetite then there is a lot of money to be made.
The reality is that most people work for an employer and so the question to be asked is who owns the rights to intellectual property? Who owns the material that you as an employee have created during working hours? If no contract exists between an employer and employee, the position is that the rights of an invention made by an employee belong to the employer if: the invention was made in the course of the employment of the employee; the invention is applicable in the line of business of the employer; and it could be expected from the employee to make the invention. After all, the employee is using company assets and time to develop this invention.
The position would differ if the employee develops the invention during his lunch hour and the invention does not fall within the ordinary course and scope of his employment. For example, the employee designs a T-shirt during lunchtime and he is ordinarily employed as an accountant.
Many companies include clauses relating to intellectual property rights in their contracts of employment. So before you sign your contract always check on what the company’s policy is. If you are unhappy with the policy then you are in a stronger position to negotiate at the outset of the employment relationship rather than when the issue of ownership arises.
An idea is only as good as its execution which is why 95 percent of patents are never commercially successful. Protect and develop your ideas with care and inform yourself about who owns the intellectual property rights to them. Better safe than sorry.
