Intellectual Property in Network Design

William Herrin bill at herrin.us
Thu Feb 12 16:18:21 UTC 2015


On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 7:36 AM, Skeeve Stevens
<skeeve+nanog at eintellegonetworks.com> wrote:
> Actually Bill... I have two (conflicting) perspectives as I said.... but to
> clarify:
>
> 1) A customer asked 'Can you make sure we have the IP for the network
> design' which I was wondering if it is even technically possible....

Hi Skeeve,

IANAL but I play one when I can get away with it.

This is usually covered as, "Contractor agrees to provide Customer
with all documents, diagrams, software or other materials produced in
the course of the contract. Contractor shall upon request assign all
ownership of such materials to Customer. Contractor shall retain no
copies of said material following termination of the contract."

So yes, it's technically feasible.


> 2) If I design some amazing solutions... am I able to claim IP.

If it's copyrightable (a "solution" may be), then as a contractor (not
an employee) the copyright vests in you. If the contract states that
you agree to transfer it to the customer then you breach the contract
if you don't.

If the contract says the copyrights are theirs then at least that part
of the contract is probably void. Barring W2 employment copyrights
nearly always vest in the individual who first put them in to a
tangible form. There are explicit and narrow exceptions in the law.
Preface of a book. That sort of thing. It's unlikely you'll run afoul
of any of them.

Lawyers get this wrong shockingly often. IP doesn't vest in the
customer and can't be transferred until it exists. The creator is a W2
employee. The contractor agrees to transfer it following creation.
Just about everything else is void.

If the contract doesn't say one way or another then the lawyer who
wrote it was asleep at the wheel.

However... the techniques used to produce the solution usually
classify as ideas. You may be bound under non-disclosure terms to not
share ideas produced for the customer within the scope of the
customer's system but ideas are never property. You can't own them and
neither can the customer.

Regards,
Bill Herrin



-- 
William Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/>



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