QUESTION

Am I entitled to compensation after I formulated a document that my employer adopted and it has becomes policy?

Asked on Nov 09th, 2013 on Patents - Nebraska
More details to this question:
I am no longer with the company.
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4 ANSWERS

Licensing Attorney serving Portland, OR at Mark S. Hubert PC
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It depends on what the document was (not everything can be copyrighted) and it depends on what your working relationship was (it may be a work for hire) and it depends on what your employment contract and employee manual says about IP ownership.
Answered on Nov 27th, 2013 at 9:01 AM

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Appellate Litigation Attorney serving Boston, MA at Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.
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Talk to a copyright lawyer but the answer is often no. Copyright law protects a work from the time it is created in a fixed form. From the moment it is set in a print or electronic manuscript, a sound recording, a computer software program, or other such concrete medium, the copyright becomes the property of the author who created it. Only the author or those deriving rights from the author can rightfully claim copyright. There is, however, an exception to this principle: "works made for hire." If a work is made for hire, an employer is considered the author even if an employee actually created the work. The employer can be a firm, an organization, or an individual.
Answered on Nov 22nd, 2013 at 7:25 PM

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You have not provided enough information for a meaningful reply. If you did the drafting for your employer, and you had an employment agreement assigning rights to your employer, you probably are not entitled to any further compensation. Otherwise, if you had no written agreement, and if you believe your document has substantial value as a copyrighted publication, you should engage an attorney to evaluate your situation. Without more, my be guess is that you are not entitled to anything beyond the compensation you received as an employee. If you do no think it is worth an attorney's fee to you, I'd suggest to forget it.
Answered on Nov 22nd, 2013 at 7:24 PM

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Acquisitions Attorney serving Lincoln, NE at Jayne L. Sebby
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Probably not. An employee's work product belongs to the employer.
Answered on Nov 22nd, 2013 at 6:40 PM

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