intellectual-property software ownership
Risk when using personally developed software in company
<p>Suppose I signed an agreement during employment that everything developed during my term of employment will be owned by the employer (or something alone those lines...)</p>

<p>Say before employment, I developed an awesome software library for personal use.</p>

<p>Is there any risk (say of losing ownership of this library) of using this software library in the company's product?</p>

<p>What if said software library was developed during employment but in my leisure?</p>

<p>You run the risk of ending up in a dispute about priority: that is, "You say you did this before your employment, OK, prove it in court, meanwhile we will keep using it thanks". Remember, common law legal systems adopt the premise that the onus of proving something rests with the person asserting the entitlement: you in this case.</p>

<p>So, don't have the dispute when there is something at stake, have it before your employment commences: "I have a software library that I have developed here on this CD-R. I am willing to licence it to you so I can use it as part of my employment on these terms: blah, blah, blah."</p>
