VIC Do I Own My VBA Script Copyright at Work?

[Feder_G]

Hi there,

I was hired to do administrative work as a casual employee. I developed a script in VBA to help me doing my job more efficiently. If my employment contract wasn't as a developer, do I own the copyright? Or does my employer?


Thanks in advance,

 

[Kim Walters]

Hi there,

I was hired to do administrative work as a casual employee. I developed a script in VBA to help me doing my job more efficiently. If my employment contract wasn't as a developer, do I own the copyright? Or does my employer?


Thanks in advance,

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

The general rule is that any intellectual property created by an employee in the course of their employment is the property of the employer, unless the employment agreement specifies otherwise.

The issue that you weren't employed as a software developer may not be sufficient here. You developed the script in the course of doing the work you were employed to do, not while doing something strictly outside the bounds of your duties.

You need to look at what your employment contract has to say about it.

 

[Kim Walters]

The question of who owns the intellectual property in an employment relationship is answered by what the employee was employed to do or whether they were specifically instructed to invent or create a work during the course of their employment.

The most important factor in deciding the ownership of intellectual property created by an employee is whether or not that employee had a duty to create the intellectual property as part of their employment duties.

If an employee created the work by stepping outside the terms of employment, then copyright ownership vests in the employee.