Teleworking and intellectual property

Employees may be required to create work for their employer from home, whether it be software, a website or a patentable invention.

Depending on the type of creation, the Intellectual Property Code provides for various mechanisms for transferring intellectual property rights directly to the employer, provided that the mechanisms for devolving these rights are respected.

Teleworking blurs the boundary between private and professional life, between the resources and instructions provided and those belonging to the employee. It can therefore be difficult to distinguish between creations that belong to the employer and those that belong to the employee.

The risk is twofold: a dispute between employee and employer, but also a dispute between the company and its customer, the company having assigned rights that it thought belonged to it but that its employee is claiming.

We help our customers to manage these risks by anticipating them through appropriate contractual clauses and charters.