Expert Opinion: «Information Technologies and Intellectual Property» questions and answers

The National Center of Intellectual Property publishes the speakers' answers on the questions posed by the participants of the round table «Information Technologies and Intellectual Property» at the TIBO 2024 forum.

Q: In what conditions can a hired professional claim intellectual property (or all he can claim is co-authorship and all the results belong to the employer)?

The answer is provided by Diana Ivanova (Associate Professor, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the Intellectual Property Law Department of the Law Faculty of the Belarusian State University):

Apparently, this refers to an employee who performs his/her labor duties, including the creation of the results of intellectual activity, or directly performs the employer's assignment to create such a result. The so-called service products, other results of intellectual activity, the exclusive right to which arises from the employer, are appearing.

The employee in this case will not be able to use the intellectual property object at his own choice. He retains only personal non-property rights. For example, for a computer program or other work, the employee will retain the right of authorship, the right to the name, the right to inviolability of the work, the right of publicity and the right of withdrawal. Some of these rights are exercised with certain exceptions in favor of the employer so that the employee cannot interfere with the employer's exercise of the exclusive right.

The record of the roundtable discussion is available via the link.

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