Backing for action on ‘highway’ robbery!

Mar 4 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

GOVERNMENT steps to protect creative industries from being robbed of ideas have been welcomed by the head of Teesside’s Institute of Digital Innovation.

The plans, spelled out in last week’s £7.5bn initiative to position the UK as the world leader in media and the arts, follow unresolved talks between Internet service providers and rights holders for voluntary action on illegal file sharing.

In its blueprint for future development of the digital and creative industries, From the Margins to the Mainstream, the Government warned that it would move to introduce legislation by April 2009 if the parties failed to reach agreement, but said the statutory clock could be stopped if a voluntary solution was found.

At the same time it promised to increase efforts to promote a greater understanding of the value of intellectual property.

“Ideas are the lifeblood of creative companies - whether it’s a cartoon character or a website design,” said Institute director Dr Jim Terkeurst.

He said he welcomed the Government’s stance, which would force the industry to “confront a number of issues surrounding ownership rights and usage”.

New technology and greater accessibility by the public was both a blessing and a curse to creative businesses, he said.

“I think we need to be flexible in telling people how to use these exciting, inventive products but recognise that protection is required.”

Amanda Mitten, a specialist in intellectual property at Teesside’s TBI Solicitors, said intellectual property issues did not apply solely to the creative sector and were sometimes an issue between employer and employee.

“Valuable assets are not only goods produced for sale. They can also include copyright protected material, such as instruction manuals, databases and websites, the designs and names of new products, and even inventions.

“When IP is created by an employee, the general rule is that the rights belong to the employer.

“This is subject to certain conditions, including any contrary agreement, which would usually appear in the employee’s written contract of employment.

“However, it could also be an oral agreement if there is no written contract or that contract has been varied.

“Another aspect to this general rule is that for the IP to belong to the employer it should have been created by the employee in the course of their employment. The interpretation of this condition can cause difficulties.

“It will have to be decided whether the creation of the IP fell within the scope of what the employee was employed to do.

“Someone employed as a cleaner who devises a new piece of equipment that could greatly improve the employer’s factory line production would probably not be acting in the course of their employment.

“But there are exceptions. The more senior an employee is, the more likely the creation of IP will be found to be in the course of their employment.

“The courts may be prepared to agree that an employee’s duties have evolved over time and have come to include the creation of IP, or that an employee has been given an exceptional task to carry out outside their normal duties.

Other factors that might be relevant, she said, were whether the IP was created during work hours, and whether the employee used the employer’s premises and equipment. “ In the specific context of inventions, it is also worth being aware that if patent protection is obtained by the employer then the employee inventor may be entitled to compensation for their efforts.”