James - I had a look on the Unite website (http://www.unitetheunion.org/member_services/legal_help/employment_issues/intellectual_property_works.aspx) and it looks as if it's standard practice for employers to claim intellectual property rights over anything their employees create: "Even if the work is created by the employee in their own time and using their own resources, the employee will not necessarily be able to claim any rights in that work, if the employer shows that the nature of the work created was that which could be reasonably contemplated as part of the employee’s duties... Consequently, Amicus members who wish to retain their rights in respect of ownership of work created in their own time should ensure that their contract of employment expressly provides for this to happen... some Universities have developed Intellectual Property Policies which include revenue sharing schemes from the exploitation of IP created by employees in the course of their employment. Such schemes are of course a vast improvement on the statutory position, which (as we have seen) generally does not allow for employees to share in the financial success of the IP works they have created and the development of such schemes in other sectors should be actively encouraged."
It looks as if you might be okay if you create something in your own time which your employer could not demonstrate was connected in any way to your work. And of course there's always the option of lying - signing their contract, then cheating on it - which is probably common practice, and not particularly morally reprehensible under the circumstances. You'd have to be very careful how you covered your tracks, of course. - Edward _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
