intellectual-property employment
Can an employee use an employer&#39;s market research subscription to conduct due diligence for IP?
<p>If an employee uses &quot;company resources&quot; to develop IP, then the employer owns said IP. However, what is the scope of &quot;company resources&quot; and &quot;development&quot;? Hypothetically, if an employee uses their employer's market intelligence subscription to conduct due diligence with the purpose of deciding whether/how to develop said IP, but does not develop the IP itself using company resources, does the employer then own the IP? What if the IP is completely unrelated to the employer's regular activities?</p>
<p>EDIT: The question is for UK law. The contract with the employer would define ownership as:</p>
<ol>
<li>Anything created in the course of the employees work</li>
<li>Anything created using company time/equipment/resources</li>
</ol>

<p>I think you are in luck, UK law says -</p>
<p><strong>The Patents Act 1977 (as amended</strong>)</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-patent-act-1977/section-39-employees-inventions-right-to-employees-inventions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 39: Right to employees’ inventions</a></em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Employees’ inventions.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) Notwithstanding anything in any rule of law, an invention made by an employee shall, as between him and his employer, be taken to belong to his employer for the purposes of this Act and all other purposes if -</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>(a) it was made in the course of the normal duties of the employee or in the course of duties falling outside his normal duties, but specifically assigned to him, and the circumstances in either case were such that an invention might reasonably be expected to result from the carrying out of his duties; or</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>(b) the invention was made in the course of the duties of the employee and, at the time of making the invention, because of the nature of his duties and the particular responsibilities arising from the nature of his duties he had a special obligation to further the interests of the employer’s undertaking.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>(2) Any other invention made by an employee shall, as between him and his employer, be taken for those purposes to belong to the employee.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nothing about using the employers resources. I would consult a professional to understand if the company agreement can override the law (I doubt it). If the IP you plan on claiming is something the company otherwise might pursue that would be a different story.</p>
