Con-trator-ing

[ASB]

IANAL, but I wouldn't rely on the absence of any such clause either. If you are employed to develop software, then it's reasonable that any and all software you develop belongs to your employer.

No, it's not reasonable. Anything you develop within the course of wrok or from work obtained info then fine, but that mobile phone killer app you devise in your time is yours (unless you have agreed to the contrary through the employment contract of course - and most do).

Though I had the clause in my CofE updated to make it absolutely clear that whatever I might develop in my own time was mine.

[VectraMan]

No, it's not reasonable. Anything you develop within the course of wrok or from work obtained info then fine, but that mobile phone killer app you devise in your time is yours (unless you have agreed to the contrary through the employment contract of course - and most do).

That's a moral opinion presumably, not a legal one.

I would imagine if you're working on boring banking software and come up with a killer mobile phone app in your spare time, you'd have a strong case as mobile phone apps aren't your employer's business. However if you're employed to come up with killer mobile phone apps, and you come up with a rival one in your spare time, then you'd have no legs to stand on. And I would think the same if you were employed as a software consultant, and had a software consultancy business in your spare time, or were employed to design and develop new software products, and came up with new software products in your spare time.

There was a fairly high profile case of this a while back, and the judge ruled that employment implied ownership of similar work even if performed out of hours. The contract just makes it more explicit.

But IANAL.

[ASB]

There was a fairly high profile case of this a while back, and the judge ruled that employment implied ownership of similar work even if performed out of hours. The contract just makes it more explicit.

Got a link for the case? I'd be interested in reading that judgement to see how wide it is and the specific circumstances.

[VectraMan]

Got a link for the case? I'd be interested in reading that judgement to see how wide it is and the specific circumstances.

After much googling, no I can't. Maybe I imagined it.

I'm sure it was on the BBC news site, probably 2 or 3 years ago.