Who owns employee work product

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Criminal Defense. Real Estate. Child Support. Other Legal Categories. X 1 Enter Zip Code or City this may not be the same place you live. Sexual Harassment. In fact, employees can share compensation for inventions of "outstanding benefit" for the employer. Intellectual property is important, and if you run a small business where your employees are creating things related to your company, it is important to have an agreement in writing beforehand to define who owns what.

Many media companies, for example, require employees to acknowledge anything written or created during their time of employment belongs to the business and not the individual.

This is often a requirement of employment, which means it protects the business at all costs from these types of claims. CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

Want to read more? Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn! CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U. Chamber of Commerce, here. By continuing on our website, you agree to our use of cookies for statistical and personalisation purposes. Know More. Designed for business owners, CO— is a site that connects like minds and delivers actionable insights for next-level growth. And recall that during a start up time most new businesses can not afford the likely cost of litigation that such a claim will entail and the employer, knowing that waiver of rights accrues if aggressive action is not taken, will be quite tempted to immediately seek relief while the new company is weak.

Any company hiring from a competitor should carefully restrict the activities of the new employee to make sure the competitor cannot join both the new employee and the company as defendants in an action for theft of trade secrets. But a very experienced business owner known to the writer perhaps put it best when told that an ex employee was now the key engineer at a competitor and might use trade secrets to help develop a new product for the competitor.

If he really develops something new, more power to him. I know he knows. His boss knows he knows I know.