Can it happen that we don't own the IP rights to our code?

Question

Our three developers create the code that is the foundation of our web app. There is also a UX/UI designer. Can it theoretically happen that we don't have all Intellectual Property rights regarding our own code?

Answers: 3 public & 0 private

7c68411a2f
Patent Attorney

It depends on whether you have executed the proper agreements with your developers, which also depends on whether the developers are employees (subject to an employment agreement that has compulsory assignment provisions) or contractors. These issues can have implications for both patent and copyright analyses. The patent issues are quite separate in their analysis from the copyright issues, as ownership (authorship) and inventorship are two different discussions.

Lawrence lau
IP Broker

Depends on what IP rights you sought, copyright is a pretty standard "work-for-hire" arrangement but what about the preliminary UX/UI skeleton drawings (potential tradedress), or the beta-customers (commercial trade-secret). Ownership can be nebulous in that some software requires underlying libraries which may have licensing / distribution constraints. In Europe moral rights also come into play but that is rarely invoked. In short, the 3 you need to focus on are copyright, trade secrets and trademarks/tradedress (UX/UI) to make sure the assignments are evidenced in writing (contract) and formal registrations are under your company name.

Img 1964 copy
Engineer

Your code and UIs may be subject to open source licenses if you derived it from OSS or packaged it with OSS.
Your code may also infringe existing patents, and you may need to then license those patents in order to make, sell, or use your code (plus a few more limitations)

Recent questions

Do people really steal invention ideas?

I sometimes see questions on forums like Quora about how to stop people stealing your invention i...

4 5386 2
Is interpretation of known historical facts protectable under copyright law?

I am looking for useful sources on protecting copyright. I am in the process of writing a book ba...

3 6114 2
Fair Use and news feeds

What is the current wisdom on compiling news feeds on a third party website so far as copyright i...

1 3962 0
Looking for good patent firm

How to find a good patent firm to help me apply patent in USA

3 4320 2
What constitutes 'prior disclosure'?

This might be a silly question but I’m a bit confused by ‘prior disclosure’ as it applies to pate...

2 4823 1

Do you have a question about your invention or intellectual property?
Search the questions below or post your enquiry to one of our experts via Directory.
(User questions are no longer posted publicly on this page.)