QUESTION

Intellectual design Licensing

Asked on Dec 03rd, 2013 on Intellectual Property - Washington
More details to this question:
I currently created a web based link to provide a dashboard of services/nurse case maanagers that are in my territory along with pdf links to each marketing slick my company requires we hand out. I am currently an account sales manager for a fortune 500 company recently acquire by a fortune 50 company. My director requested I pass my design along to her for approval prior to utilizing. She passed the information along to the VP of marketing and they were both very impressed and mentioned they wanted to roll this out nationally to over 70 sales reps. When I requested furhtur information from them on whether or not I could use they said I could not and that they plan on develping this and using in after the first of the year. I need to know what my rights are to this. I created this on my own time and it would have cost thousands to delelop. My mother in law is the CIO of a state housing dept and her experience is what helped in this.
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1 ANSWER

Intellectual Property Attorney serving Manchester, NH at Hayes Soloway P.C.
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'Creating a link' doesn't sound significant/difficult. I think of a link as a URL. In the future, you may want to lead with "I created a dashboard." Assuming the dashboard required the development of some software code, you may have copyright protection over your work. Copyright protection for works related to employment require work for hire analysis. 17 USC 201(b) states: In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, [the employer] owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright. The employer can show that a work is made for hire by establishing that it was (1) created by an employee (2) acting within the scope of the employment relationship. 17 U.S.C.A. Sec. 101  In this wonderfully outdated use of language, you are a servant: http://elephantcircle.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/restatement-second-of-agency.pdf. Look specifically at Section 228. 228 sets out three factors in determining if the work was created within the scope of employment. The analysis requires a further understanding of your situation and cannot be done for free, but this is where I would look to understand this matter. Also, a labor law attorney may have an understanding of labor laws that would also come into play.
Answered on Dec 04th, 2013 at 9:38 AM

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