Intellectual Property Rights Over Software – Recent Case

When a business places an order for a supply of intellectual property, does it automatically become the owner of the product it has ordered? The answer is not obvious and caution is advised. Just because a price has been paid does not mean that the business obtains an unlimited right to exploit the product.

The rules are not the same for all intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks, designs and drawings, and literary and artistic works. The final category includes not only copyright in the classic sense of the term, but also rights in computer software and databases.

On 12 January 2023, the Luxembourg Court of Cassation provided a clear answer to the question of the transfer of rights in computer software. At issue was a software package called "Socrates" used by a Luxembourg trade union. An IT company claimed payment of invoices for the use of the software, arguing that it had bought the software from the IT company that had originally developed