This chapter presents ownership of intellectual property rights and rights of employees. If an employed engineer makes an especially successful invention there is a right to a reward from the employer in certain circumstances. If any material protected by copyright, design right, registered design or topography right is created by an employee as part of his or her normal work, the employer owns the legal rights. For patentable inventions, the employer owns rights in an invention only if the employee's job is of the type in which inventions are likely to be made. All other inventions belong to the employee. If a design right or registered design is created under a contract, the company paying for the work automaticay owns the rights, but not the associated copy right. The chapter applies only to engineers employed in the UK, or working abroad but attached in some way to a place of business in the UK.

Inspec keywords: employee welfare; patents; copyright

Other keywords: intellectual property rights; topography right; copyright; UK; registered design; legal right; design right; patentable invention; employee rights; ownership position

Subjects: Legal aspects