Who owns code written by a contractor?

Without a written assignment, often not the company. This is one of the most common diligence findings.

Is a dataset protected in the EU?

A substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents can attract the sui generis database right, separate from copyright.

Can a UI layout be protected by copyright?

Sometimes, where it is an original expression. A registered design is often the more reliable route.

Practice areas · ©

Copyright in Software & Databases

Code ownership, database rights and UI protection.

Overview

Copyright and the EU database right sit under every software product and are usually the rights most often left undocumented. We fix ownership chains, secure database rights over curated datasets, and assess where interface elements can be protected.

What we do

Chain-of-title review for code contributions
Employee and contractor assignment frameworks
EU sui generis database right assessment
Dataset and training-data rights review
Interface and screen-element protection analysis
Infringement assessment for copied code or UI

Questions

Have a matter to discuss?

Tell us what you are building. We will run a conflict check and arrange an NDA before any confidential disclosure.

Discuss Your Matter All practice areas